BRAZIL 

TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  • BOSTON  • CHICAGO  • DALLAS 
ATLANTA  • SAN  FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  & CO.,  Limited 

LONDON  • BOMBAY  • CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/braziltodaytomorOOjoyc 


Botafogo  Bay,  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

In  the  background  are  the  Dois  Irmaos  Mountains,  the  flat-topped  Gavea,  and  the  curved  granite  peak  of  Corcovado. 


BRAZIL 


TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


BY 


L.  E.  ELLIOTT,  F.  R.  G.  S.,  F.  R.  A.  I.,  Etc. 

AUTHOR  OF  “ BLACK  GOLD,”  “ CHILE,  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW,”  etc. 
LITERARY  EDITOR,  PAN  AMERICAN  MAGAZINE 


ILLUSTRATED 


“ The  time  will  come  when  the  Ocean  will  no  longer 
limit  the  known  lands,  when  a new  world  shall  be 
opened  up  to  the  followers  of  the  sea,  and  Thule 
will  be  no  longer  the  Ultima  Thule  of  the  earth.” 


Seneca, 


Medea.” 

1 


\ 


Npuj  fork 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

1922 


All  rights  reserved 


Copyright,  1917, 

By  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 

Set  up  and  electrotyped.  Published  March,  1917. 
Revised  Edition  October,  1922. 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


TO 

M.  L.  E. 


CONTENTS 


Introduction 

Brazil’s  Great  Extent — Virgin  Interior — Development  dur- 
ing Last  Hundred  Years — Variety  of  Soil  and  Climate — 
Amazon  Basin,  Central  Plateau,  Coast — Diversified  Indus- 
tries and  Populations — Divergent  Interests — Brazil  Over- 
Praised  and  Over-Blamed — South  American  Stand- 
point— North  and  South  Americans — Ties  with  Europe. 

CHAPTER  I 


History  of  Brazil 

Discovery — Henry  the  Navigator — Search  for  Cathay — 
Captain  Cabral — Duarte  Coelho — The  Capitanias — 
Ramalho  and  Caramaru — Sao  Paulo,  Bahia  and  Pernam- 
buco— The  Jesuits — Mamelucos — First  Entradas — The 
Sertao — The  Bandeirantes — Raposo — Fernao  Dias — Gold 
and  Diamonds — Destruction  of  the  Missions — Brazil  un- 
der Spain — Corsairs — The  Dutch  in  North  Brazil — Portu- 
gal regains  Independence — Evacuation  by  Dutch — The 
French  in  Rio — Interior  Mines  and  Settlement — The 
Marquis  de  Pombal — Expulsion  of  Jesuits — Dom  Joao  in 
Brazil — Dom  Pedro  I — Independent  Monarchy — Dom 
Pedro  II — Abolition  of  Slavery — Republic. 

CHAPTER  II 

Colonization 

Group  Immigration  Planned — Swiss  in  Nova  Friburgo — 
First  Germans  in  Rio  Grande — Petropolis  and  Blumenau — 
Joinville — German  Emigration  Forbidden — Portuguese 
Colonies — Parceria  System — French  and  Alsatians — 
North  Americans — Santa  Barbara  and  the  Consul — New 
Italian  Stream— Colonos  and  the  Patronato  Agricola — 
Poles  and  Russians — Conditions  of  Settlement  in  SSo 


Vlll 


CONTENTS 


Page 

Paulo — Present  Status  of  Colonies — Japanese  at  Iguape — 
Numbers  of  Immigrants  entering  Brazil — Future  Immigra- 
tion— Best  Points  of  Settlement — Class  needed. 

CHAPTER  III 


Social  Conditions 76 

Brazilian  Courtesy — European  Influence — Titles — Domi- 
nating Class — Fazendeiros  and  Commerciantes — Mixed 
Blood  and  the  Labouring  Classes — Bacharelismo — The 
Sertanejo — Life  in  the  Interior — Festas — The  Tropeiro — 
Lotteries — The  Bicho — Coffee  Drinking — Religion — 

Saints’  Days — Ceremonies — Position  of  Women — The 
Brazilian  Girl  and  Wife — City  Life — Literature — Novels — 
Poets — The  Stage — The  Press — Influence  of  Blood,  Euro- 
pean and  African — Negro  Cooking  and  Folklore — The 
Native  Brazilian — Pottery  and  Weaving — Ideas  and  Abil- 
ity— Work  of  Rondon — Fate  of  the  Indian — Education — 
Brazil  not  Revolutionary — The  A.  B.  C.  Treaty. 

CHAPTER  IV 


Transportation.  I.  River  and  Road 123 

Early  Water  Communication — Waterways  Penetrating  In- 
terior— Great  rivers — Early  roads — New  Automobile 
highways 

II.  Rail 129 


First  Railroad  Planning — First  Construction — Coffee  Rail- 
ways— Climbing  the  Mountain  Barrier — Work  in  Empire 
and  Republic — Borrowing — Linking  Centres — Radiating 
Lines — Roads  Serving  States,  South  to  North — Brazil 
Railway  Company — The  Central  Line — Leopoldina — 
Bahia  Roads — Great  Western — Northern  Lines — Roads 
Passing  Falls — Financial  Conditions — Status  of  Owner- 
ship— Future  Lines. 

III.  Shipping 161 

Steamship  River  Service — Sea  Communication — Na- 
tionality of  Lines — Brazilian  Mercantile  Marine. 


CONTENTS 


IX 


CHAPTER  V 

Page 

Industries 167 

The  Coffee  Industry  of  Brazil — The  Rubber  Industry  of 
the  Amazon — The  Meat  Industry:  Cattle  Raising  and 
Packing-Houses — Cotton  Growing  and  Weaving — Herva 
Matte — Sugar — Tobacco — Wheat — Fibres — Cacao — Min- 
ing— Brazilian  Manufactures:  Artificial  Industries;  In- 
dustrial Centres;  Capital;  National  Industries  Competing 
with  Importations;  Imposts;  Factories  of  Sao  Paulo;  Tex- 
tiles; Locality  of  Mills  in  Brazil;  Labour  and  Consumption 
of  Material;  National  Dyes;  Water-power. 

CHAPTER  VI 


Finance.  I.  Currency 276 

Value  of  the  milreis — Fluctuations — Caixa  de  Conversao — 
Convertible  and  Inconvertible  Paper — Emergency  Issues — 
Treasury  Bills — Paper  Currency,  at  Different  Dates — 
Metal  Coinage — Effects  of  Fallen  Exchange. 

II.  Investments 285 

Blood,  Brains  and  Money — British  Investments — Rail- 
ways— Public  Utilities  and  Industrials — External  Loans — 
French  Investments — German  Work — North  American 
Interests — Banks  in  Brazil. 

III.  State  Debts — Municipal  Debts — Federal  Debts — Funding 

Loans — Resumption  of  Specie  Payments — Sources  of  State 
and  Federal  Revenue.  297 

CHAPTER  VII 

The  World’s  Horticultural  and  Medicinal  Debt  to 

Brazil 306 

Brazilian  Origin  of  Well-known  Flowers — First  Botanists 
— Piso  and  Marcgrav — Loudon’s  Hortus — Gardner — Or- 
chids— Cattley — Flowers  and  Shrubs — Fruits — Medicines 
— Ipecacuanha — Copaiba — Jaborandi — Guarana — Native 
Remedies — Mineral  Waters. 


X 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Page 

Brazil’s  Exterior  Commerce 316 

Dominant  Districts  and  Industries — Figures  of  Ten-year 
Periods  of  Commerce — The  Nine  Principal  Articles — Sao 
Paulo’s  Share — United  States  Purchases — Imports — Their 
Origin — Balance  of  Trade. 

List  of  Brazilian  States,  Area  and  Population 324 

Glossary  of  Brazilian  terms 325 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Frontispiece, Botafogo  Bay,  Rio  dc  Janeiro 


Opposite 

page 

Entrance  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  Harbour, 4 

Ponte  Santa  Isabel,  Recife;  Pra?a  Maua;  Waterfront  at  Bahia, 20 

Falls  of  Iguassu, 32 

Old  and  New  Brazil, 38 

Two  views  of  S.  Paulo  City, 46 

Two  views  of  the  Avenida  Rio  Branco,  Rio, 50 

Agriculture  in  S.  Paulo, 66 

Barra  Road,  Bahia;  Resaca,  Rio;  Upper  Amazon, 74 

Monroe  Palacio,  Rio;  Municipal  Theatre,  S.  Paulo, 88 

Igapo  near  Rio  Negro;  Caripuna  Indians,  Madeira  River, no 

Agricultural  School,  Piracicaba;  Butantan  Institute 116 

The  Sao  Paulo  Railway, 132 

Rua  Barao  da  Victoria,  Pernambuco;  Avenida  7 de  Setembro,  Bahia.  150 

Porto  Velho,  Madeira-Mamore;  Igarape  S.  Vicente,  Manaos, 154 

Waterfront  of  S.  Salvador  (Bahia);  Floating  docks  at  Manaos, 162 

The  Sao  Paulo  Coffee  Industry, 176 

Rubber  on  the  Amazon, 200 

The  Cattle  Industry, 212 

Carioca  Cotton  Mill,  Rio;  Catende  Sugar  Mill,  Pernambuco, 244 

Coffee-loading  equipment,  Santos;  Sugar  lands  in  Pernambuco, 264 

Ministry  of  War,  Rio;  Avenida  Nazareth,  Belem, 284 

Fishing  Boats;  Rocks  at  Guaruja;  Bertioga;  Cantareira  Water  Supply,  302 
On  the  Madeira  River,  Amazonas;  Victoria  Regia  lilies,  near  Manaos,  310 

Map  showing  factories,  employees,  etc 274 

Map  showing  agricultural  production, 324 


Coloured  map  of  Brazil,  showing  railways,  rivers,  mountains,  chief 

towns, 328 


BRAZIL 

TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


The  greatest  of  all  American  countries  is  compara- 
tively the  least  developed.  Brazil,  with  her  3,300,000 
square  miles  of  territory,  four  thousand  miles  of  coast, 
and  her  incomparable  system  of  great  waterways,  has 
the  largest  extent  of  wild  and  almost  unknown  country 
of  any  political  division  of  the  New  World;  she,  and 
she  alone,  owns  thousands  of  square  miles  of  forests 
where  no  one  has  set  foot  but  the  native,  still  really 
living  in  the  Stone  Age,  mountain  ranges  never  properly 
prospected,  with  their  deposits  of  minerals  scarcely 
scratched,  and  millions  of  acres  of  grassy  uplands  wait- 
ing for  the  farmer  and  the  stock-raiser. 

Brazil  is  not  scantily  developed  because  little  has 
been  done;  on  the  contrary,  a wonderful  amount  of 
development  has  been  accomplished,  but  the  period  of 
expansion  has  been  short  and  the  country  so  great  and 
varied  that  whole  regions  remain  out  of  the  track  of 
progress.  Until  a century  ago,  when  Dom  Joao  opened 
Brazilian  ports  to  international  commerce,  Brazil  lay 
in  a trance,  bound  hand  and  foot  to  Portugal,  isolated 
from  the  world.  Her  erection  into  a separate  monarchy 
found  her  without  capital,  without  education,  for  she 
had  neither  adequate  primary  nor  technical  schools, 
without  a press,  and  without  any  knowledge  of  her  own 
resources  except  that  gathered  by  the  interior  raids, 
wanderings  and  settlements  of  her  own  hardy  people. 


2 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


Everything  that  has  been  done  to  bring  Brazil  into 
the  race  of  nations  is  the  work  of  the  last  hundred 
years;  the  most  intense  period  of  rapid  building  since 
the  establishment  of  the  republic  has  lasted  less  than 
thirty  years,  for  in  that  time  has  taken  place  the  great 
acquisition  of  private  fortunes  in  the  industrial  regions 
of  Brazil.  Much  of  the  civic  building,  creation  of  pub- 
lic utilities,  establishment  of  transportation  lines,  has 
been  due  to  foreign  capital  and  technical  skill,  but 
Brazil  herself  has  contributed  no  small  share  of  enter- 
prise during  the  last  fifty  years;  descendants  of  Portu- 
guese Jidalgos  have  taken  up  engineering,  agriculture, 
commerce  and  city-making  with  energy  and  intelligence 
which  is  not  always  given  a due  share  of  recognition  by 
those  onlookers  who  think  that  all  development  of 
Latin  America  must  come  from  without.  In  Brazil 
much  progress,  much  creation,  has  come  from  within, 
and  will  come  to  an  even  larger  degree  in  the  future  with 
improvement  in  technical  education;  but  the  country  is 
enormous,  the  centres  of  population  have  always  lain  on 
or  near  the  sea  border,  and  interior  Brazil,  the  virgin 
heart  of  South  America,  remains  practically  untouched. 

The  two  great  interior  states  of  Matto  Grosso  and 
Goyaz  cover  an  area  of  more  than  two  million  square 
kilometres;  they  make  up  one-fourth  of  the  whole 
Brazilian  territory,  and  Brazil  covers  half  of  South 
America : but  this  huge  heart-shaped  wedge  in  the  cen- 
tre of  the  continent  has  no  more  than  half  a million 
population.  This  is  not  because  the  country  is  tropical 
or  worthless,  but  because  it  is  unopened  and  unknown. 

Within  her  wide  area  Brazil  encloses  a great  variety 
of  soils  and  climates:  she  has  no  snow  line,  because  she 
has  no  great  mountain  heights;  a peak  less  than  three 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


3 


thousand  metres  high,  Itatiaya,  in  the  Mantiqueiras,  is 
the  point  of  greatest  altitude.  But  she  has  almost 
every  other  climatic  gift  that  can  be  included  within 
the  fifth  degree  of  North  and  thirty-third  of  South 
Latitude;  between  the  eighth  degree  East  and  thirtieth 
West  Longitude  of  the  meridian  of  Rio  de  Janeiro. 
Brazil  is  a vast  plateau  with  a steep  descent  to  the  sea 
along  half  her  coast,  and  a flat  hot  sea  margin  of  vary- 
ing widths;  this  plateau,  scored  by  great  rivers,  sweeps 
away  in  undulating  prairies,  sloping  in  two  principal 
directions — inland,  in  the  centre  and  south,  to  the  great 
Parana  valley;  and  in  the  upper  regions,  northward  to 
the  immense  Amazon  basin.  This  is  not  a basin  so 
much  as  a wide  plate,  for  not  only  is  the  course  of  the 
huge  rio-mar  almost  flat  for  the  last  thousand  miles  of 
its  journey  to  the  sea  (Manaos  is  only  85  feet  above 
sea-level)  but  this  practically  level  ground  extends 
northward  all  the  way  to  the  confines  of  Venezuela  and 
the  three  Guianas,  and  southward  until  the  Cordilheiras 
of  Matto  Grosso  are  encountered.  Great  expanses  of 
this  plate  are  filled  with  the  sweltering  forests  of  trop- 
ical tradition,  forests  containing  a thousand  kinds  of 
strange  orchids,  immense  and  curious  trees,  insects, 
reptiles  and  animals;  from  Orellana  and  Lopez  de 
Aguirre  to  Humboldt,  Bates,  Wallace  and  Agassiz, 
from  the  Lord  de  la  Ravardiere  to  Nicolas  Hortsman  the 
practical  Dutchman  who  announced  that  El  Dorado 
did  not  exist,  to  Charles  Marie  de  la  Condamine,  Mar- 
thas, Spix,  Admiral  Smith,  Lister  Maw,  Schomburgk 
and  Wickham,  every  traveller  upon  the  Amazon  has 
tried  to  describe  the  indescribable  Amazonian  forest. 
Deep,  monotonous,  silent,  dark  and  changeless,  the 
forest  unconquerable  walls  in  the  uncountable  rivers 


4 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


traversing  it  from  the  snows  of  Peru  and  the  interior 
plateau  of  Brazil,  closing  in  upon  the  little  cities  where 
man  has  settled  himself  in  a puny  attempt  to  steal 
treasures  out  of  its  mighty  heart. 

There  is  a remarkable  contrast  between  this  humid 
forestal  area  of  the  north  and  the  cool  high  cattle-lands 
of  the  centre,  the  pine  and  matte  woods  and  wheat 
lands  of  the  south  and  the  hot  coastal  belt  of  the  great 
promontory  with  its  deep  fringe  of  coconuts,  its  sugar 
country,  tobacco  fields  and  cacao  plantations;  between 
the  coffee  country  of  Sao  Paulo  and  the  regions  of  the 
carnauba  palm  and  the  babassu.  No  physical  contrast 
could  be  more  acute  than  that  of  the  flat  tropic  swamps 
of  Para  and  the  austere,  fantastic  and  beautiful  granite 
peaks  of  the  Serra  do  Mar  near  Rio — the  slender  Finger 
of  God  in  the  Orgao  Mountains,  the  curved  up-rearing 
of  the  Corcovado,  the  cloud-wreathed  head  of  Tijuca. 

Nor  is  there  less  contrast  in  the  different  industries 
resulting  from  the  different  products  of  the  widely  diver- 
sified regions,  and  the  population  inhabiting  them. 
The  extreme  north  exists  largely  upon  the  rubber 
business,  where  independent  individuals  extract  gum 
from  wild  trees  in  regions  that  are  sometimes  scarcely 
charted;  in  the  south  an  imported  Italian  population 
performs  routine  tasks  on  the  highly  organized  coffee 
plantations. 

In  between  these  two  sharply  marked  divisions  there 
are  many  industries  and  many  grades  of  labour,  from 
the  caboclo  half-Indian  of  the  north  to  the  negro  of  the 
centre  and  the  Japanese,  Syrian  and  Pole  of  the  south- 
erly colonies,  as  well  as  the  descendant  of  the  Portu- 
guese. There  is  in  some  parts  of  Brazil  such  a mixture 
of  races  and  tongues  that  it  seems  as  if  the  Jesuits  were 


Entrance  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  Harbour  (Bahia  de  Guanabara). 

Showing  the  farther  shore,  the  forts,  the  Pao  d’Assucar,  and  the  loop  of  Botafogo  Bay. 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


5 


needed  again  to  invent  a new  lingua  geral.  Contrasts 
in  personality,  as  well  as  in  soil  and  climate  in  Brazil, 
and  the  difference  in  accessibility  between  an  open 
seaboard  and  a deep  and  roadless  interior,  have  all  aided 
to  bring  about  the  marked  diversity  of  interests  which 
have  more  than  once  proved  the  salvation  of  the 
country.  Publicists  in  Brazil  sometimes  sound  a note 
of  warning  against  the  decentralization  that  has  grown 
more  emphatic  since  the  erection  of  the  Republican 
system  gave  autonomous  powers  to  the  States;  there 
have  been  suggestions  of  separation  of  north  from  south 
on  account  of  their  distinct  interests;  but  it  is  impos- 
sible to  doubt  that  a country  with  a score  of  industries 
and  of  products  to  offer  to  world  markets  is  in  a better 
economic  position  than  lands  depending  upon  two  or 
three  main  sources  of  income. 

In  the  Argentine  the  city  of  Buenos  Aires  is  the 
centre  and  fount  of  business;  every  great  house  has 
its  headquarters  there,  its  railway  links  and  commercial 
arms  reach  out  into  all  productive  parts  of  the  country. 
To  Buenos  Aires  everything  comes  to  be  marketed 
whether  from  the  interior  or  from  abroad:  it  is  the 
city,  the  head  and  heart  of  the  Argentine.  It  is  not 
possible  to  point  to  any  one  city  in  Brazil  and  to  say 
the  same.  Not  even  lovely  and  splendid  Rio,  federal 
capital  and  gay  vortex  as  she  is,  can  claim  to  represent 
the  commercial  interest  of  the  country;  she  is  the 
spending-place  of  much  of  Biazil’s  income,  but  she  is 
not  the  greatest  earner.  This  honour  falls  to  Sao  Paulo, 
with  Santos  as  the  biggest  exporter  of  values;  no  one 
denies  the  commercial  palm  to  the  Paulistas,  but  it  is 
not  heresy  to  say  that  the  elimination  of  the  coffee 
industry  would  not  destroy  the  life  of  Brazil  as,  for 


6 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


example,  the  disappearance  of  the  cereal  or  cattle  indus- 
try would  threaten  the  Argentine.  She  would  still  retain 
her  herva  matte , her  cattle,  her  mines;  her  rubber,  wax, 
fruit,  cotton,  sugar,  and  tobacco;  her  hardwoods  and 
forestal  drugs  and  dyes,  her  cacao  and  fibres  and  nuts. 

A whole  world  of  interests  divides  Sao  Paulo  from 
Bahia,  Bahia  from  Para,  Para  from  Pernambuco, 
Maranhao  from  Victoria,  Maceio  from  Porto  Alegre, 
Rio  de  Janeiro  from  Manaos,  Ilheos  from  Paranagua, 
Mossoro  from  Sao  Francisco,  Fortaleza  from  Florian- 
opolis;  some  of  these  ports  are  great  economically,  alive 
with  shipping,  while  others  are  little  developing  points 
which  have  not  yet  achieved  international  fame;  but 
each  has  its  distinct  raison  d’etre  and  has  a divergent 
social  and  economic  impulse  from  that  of  many  of  her 
sisters.  It  is  true  that  certain  states  seem  to  produce 
almost  everything  tropical  or  sub-tropical  as  well  as 
being  endowed  with  minerals,  as  Minas  Geraes,  grow- 
ing coffee,  cotton,  raising  cattle,  mining  precious  stones, 
gold  and  iron  ore,  weaving  her  cotton  and  running  a 
great  dairy  business  with  interstate  shipments  of  her 
famous  cheese  and  butter;  or  Pernambuco  and  the  other 
states  of  the  great  promontory,  with  a host  of  different 
products;  or  Sao  Paulo,  where  an  energetic  Brazilian 
fazendeiro,  to  show  what  his  state  can  grow  besides 
coffee,  cotton,  rice  and  sugar,  has  gardens  containing 
“every  known  fruit”  of  temperate  and  tropical  zones. 
But  the  distinct  local  industries  of  the  widely  varying 
Brazilian  soil  and  climate  are  the  most  striking  and 
promising  elements  of  her  economic  life. 

Many  parts  of  South  America  have  suffered  from 
over-praise  as  much  as  from  unmerited  blame.  None 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


7 


have  suffered  more  than  Brazil,  shut  off  from  the  non- 
Latin  world  rather  more  than  is  Spanish  America  be- 
cause of  her  Portuguese  idiom.  There  is  little  enough 
thorough  study  of  Spanish  on  the  part  of  Anglo-Saxons, 
but  it  is  mighty  compared  to  the  study  of  Portuguese, 
a beautiful  language  and  probably  rather  more  readily 
acquired  than  the  formal  and  clear-cut  idiom  of  Castile. 
Non-comprehension  of  Portuguese  and  Spanish  has 
been  a bar  to  understanding  of  the  soul  of  Latin  America ; 
nearly  every  person  who  wishes  to  learn  something 
about  any  part  of  the  Southern  Continent  runs  to  the 
libraries  for  a book  of  travels,  generally  written  by  a 
foreigner,  himself  sparsely  acquainted  with  the  lan- 
guage of  the  country  about  which  he  is  writing,  and 
frequently  entirely  from  an  outside  viewpoint.  There 
is  a remarkable  absence  of  study  of  South  America 
from  the  South  American’s  viewpoint,  and  it  is  for  this 
reason  that  I have  tried  in  this  book  to  quote  from  Bra- 
zilian books  and  newspapers  rather  than  from  the  ideas 
of  foreigners,  however  distinguished.  It  is  a loss  to  the 
Anglo-Saxon  that  so  much  fine  and  acute  comment  and 
description  of  South  America  by  South  Americans  falls 
on  deaf  ears  because  of  the  language  difficulty;  perhaps 
the  next  few  years  may  see  the  new  interest  in  things 
South  American  stimulated  by  translations  from  many 
more  of  the  writings  of  South  American  authors. 

Only  by  understanding  the  South  American  better 
can  the  Anglo-Saxon  see  the  relation  that  mutually 
exists,  and  realize  the  depth  of  the  gulf  between  them 
at  the  same  time.  Especially  since  the  outbreak  of  the 
European  War  we  have  seen  an  astounding  number  of 
agreeable  but  visionary  articles  written  on  the  subject 
of  the  strong  logical  tie,  geographical,  political  and 


8 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


mental,  between  North  and  South  America.  The  truth 
is  however  that  the  two  continents  have  little  geo- 
graphical connection — Panama  was  once  a strait — and 
perhaps  even  less  racial,  religious,  and  mental  leanings. 
Both  sections  of  the  Americas  have  drawn  their  blood, 
language,  religion  and  political  ideals  from  Europe,  but 
from  two  strongly  marked  sections — one,  the  Protestant 
Anglo-Saxon,  commercial,  mechanically  inventive:  the 
other,  the  Roman  Catholic  Latin  section,  artistic  and 
mentally  brilliant  but  not  usually  a born  commer- 
ciante. 

It  is  just  as  well  to  realize  this  difference  clearly,  to 
know  that,  at  least  in  the  past,  the  Americas  have  been 
more  closely  bound  to  Europe  than  to  each  other;  the 
ties  are  especially  strong  in  Brazil,  more  tender  than  in 
many  parts  of  the  New  World,  because  separation  in  a 
political  sense  was  obtained  without  violence.  It  is 
only  through  understanding  of  the  mental  and  social 
attitude  and  conditions  of  the  Brazilian  that  the  new- 
comer can  avoid  pitfalls. 

Mistakenly  advised,  and  often  lured  by  too  golden 
promises,  the  stranger  has  often  rushed  to  one  or  an- 
other part  of  South  America,  has  found  bitter  disap- 
pointment, and  gone  home  with  denunciation  of  all 
things  South  American  upon  his  tongue;  but  in  many 
instances  the  fault  lay  within  himself,  in  his  want  of 
knowledge  of  circumstances,  physical  and  mental,  and 
of  his  improper  equipment  for  the  task  that  lay  to  his 
hand.  There  are  many  such  tasks,  but  they  must  be 
approached  with  equipment  and  spirit  equally  prepared; 
no  fortune  is  to  be  attained  by  a mere  rub  of  the  magic 
lamp. 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


9 


This  book  is  offered  chiefly  with  the  hope  of  helping 
to  stimulate  interest  in  Brazil,  to  induce  a more  thor- 
ough study  than  these  pages  can  offer  in  the  only  place 
where  Brazil  can  be  studied — in  her  own  fair  confines. 
If  it  supplements  what  has  already  been  written,  brings 
up  to  date  for  the  time  being  the  story  of  Brazil’s  devel- 
opment, if  it  awakens  in  more  of  the  energetic  and  able 
people  of  the  world  a wish  to  take  part  in  the  opening-up 
of  the  great  Brazilian  resources,  this  book  will  have 
served  its  modest  purpose.  It  is  the  fruit  of  seven 
years’  travel  in  and  study  of  Latin  America,  and  two 
years’  special  work  on  and  in  Brazil,  where  seventeen 
out  of  the  twenty  States  were  visited. 

A debt  is  owing  to  many  Brazilian  publications, 
sources  of  much  statistical  matter  as  well  as  illumina- 
tion of  Brazilian  thought,  as  the  Jornal  do  Commercio 
of  Rio,  Brasil  Ferro  Carril,  very  many  local  journals  of 
different  States,  Wileman’s  Brazilian  Review , the  Diario 
Official  issued  by  various  authorities;  the  invaluable 
Mensagens,  with  their  financial  and  industrial  surveys, 
issued  by  State  Presidents;  to  many  kind  and  helpful 
friends  in  Brazil,  England  and  America;  to  the  South 
American  Journal;  and  especially  to  Mr.  W.  Roberts 
of  the  London  Times , to  whom  I am  indebted  for  most 
of  the  subject  matter  in  “The  World’s  Horticultural 
and  Medicinal  Debt  to  Brazil.” 


CHAPTER  I 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 

Brazil  and  the  Brazilians  cannot  be  understood 
without  knowledge  of  their  history,  for  here  as  in  no 
other  part  of  Latin  America  the  past  has  led  up  to  the 
present  without  any  violent  upheaval.  While  the 
Spanish  colonies  of  Central  and  South  America  were 
plunged  first  in  revolutionary  and  afterwards  in  civil 
war,  shedding  not  only  blood  but  also  tradition  and 
brotherhood  with  their  kin,  Portuguese  America  was 
saved  from  similar  conditions  by  the  odd  turn  of  fortune 
that  made  her  a monarchy,  independent  of  Europe  and 
yet  ruled  by  a European  prince,  during  the  most 
critical  years  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Thanks  to  Napoleon  Buonaparte,  no  furious  chasm, 
difficult  for  even  thoughts  to  bridge,  was  opened  be- 
tween Brazil  and  the  Mother  Country;  it  was  never 
necessary  for  young  Brazilians  to  be  taught  that  Europe 
was  an  oppressor  who  must  be  bitterly  fought.  Brazil 
gained  in  the  arts  of  peace  and  in  the  retention  of 
pleasant  relations  between  herself  and  the  lusitanos, 
while,  in  contrast,  Spanish  American  feeling  is  still  so 
strongly  anti-Spanish  that  in  times  of  unrest  it  is  the 
immigrant  of  Iberian  blood  who  is  singled  out  for  special 
ill-will.  These  republics  are  without  memorials  to  their 
Spanish  discoverers  or  rulers;  Mexico,  for  example, 
has  no  statue  or  tablet  to  the  memory  of  Hernan 
Cortes,  great  figure  as  he  was.  Admiration  for  the 
conquistador es  is  generally  forgotten  in  bitterness  against 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


ii 


Spanish  rule,  all  history  before  revolutionary  times  is 
coloured  with  this  deliberately  fostered  feeling,  and  only 
occasionally  does  there  arise  a speaker  or  writer  broad- 
minded enough  to  take  up  the  cudgels  for  Spain  and  the 
rich  inheritance  she  left  to  her  children. 

Brazil  was  more  fortunate.  From  the  time  of  the 
first  Portuguese  settlement  down  to  the  present  day 
she  has  never  suffered  any  great  internal  conflagration: 
there  were  persistent  Indian  troubles  in  the  first  cen- 
turies until  the  survivors  of  these  unlucky  natives 
moved  back  to  the  interior  forests,  but  among  the 
population  that  grew  up  in  Brazil,  hardy  and  prolific, 
there  has  been  little  strife  with  the  insignificant  excep- 
tion of  the  feuds  of  the  Emboabas,  the  Mascates  and 
the  Balaios. 

Brazil  was  discovered  twice.  First  came  a Spaniard, 
Vicente  Pinzon,  an  old  companion  of  Columbus:  he 
found  and  reconnoitred  the  mouth  of  the  Amazon,  and 
sailed  south  to  a point  which  he  named  Santa  Maria  de 
la  Consolacion,  but  which  is  now  known  as  Cape  St. 
Augustine.  On  his  return  to  Spain  his  report  roused  no 
interest  at  a Court  where  new  discoveries  of  land  only 
added  to  the  embarras  de  richesses,  and  the  attention  of 
the  adventurous  was  already  taken  up  with  the  West 
Indies;  the  second  discovery  (if  we  ignore  the  tale  of  the 
sight  of  Brazilian  shores  by  Diogo  de  Lepe,  whose 
wanderings  were,  in  any  case,  unfruitful)  was  a pure 
accident,  but,  occurring  to  a Portuguese,  was  imme- 
diately seized  upon  as  a basis  of  claim  to  part  of  the 
new  lands  in  the  West.  This  was  on  May  3,  1500,  three 
months  after  the  voyage  of  Pinzon  to  the  Amazon. 
Spain,  to  whom  the  all-powerful  Pope  Alexander  VI 
had  allotted  in  the  famous  bull  of  1495  all  the  new 


12 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


lands  discovered  or  to  be  discovered  in  the  West,  while 
Portugal  was  given  rights  to  discoveries  in  the  East, 
might  have  contested  this  claim  but  for  two  reasons: 
the  first  was  that  the  Treaty  of  Tordesillas  had  shifted 
the  Pope’s  dividing  line  westward  to  a point  370  leagues 
west  of  the  Cape  Verde  Islands  so  that  Portugal  could 
retain  her  Atlantic  island  discoveries;  the  second  was 
that  either  by  accident  or  design  the  early  cartographers 
drew  Brazil’s  easterly  outline  about  twenty-two  de- 
grees more  to  the  east  than  it  should  have  been,  so  that 
the  whole  of  the  enormous  tract  of  what  is  Brazil  today 
fell  within  the  legitimate  claims  of  Portugal.  It  was 
but  a matter  of  equity  that  Portugal  should  have  a 
share  in  the  lands  of  the  West,  for  to  the  work  of  that 
Portuguese  prince,  Henry  the  Navigator,  the  initiative 
for  sea  adventure  was  due.  Henry,  inheritor  of  sea 
traditions  on  both  sides  of  his  parentage,  for  his  mother 
was  an  English  princess,  daughter  of  John  of  Gaunt, 
spent  his  life  in  a long  sea  dream  translated  into  deeds; 
for  forty  years  he  lived  on  the  lonely  promontory  of 
Sagres,  his  observatory  full  of  charts,  the  haunt  of 
shipmasters  and  geographers,  with  his  shipyards  below 
the  windows  ever  busy  with  the  building  of  stout 
caravels:  from  1420  until  his  death  in  1460  the  Naviga- 
tor urged  and  bullied  his  captains  to  go  southward 
down  the  coast  of  Africa,  where  no  sailor  had  pene- 
trated within  Christian  times,  whatever  they  had  done 
in  the  days  of  the  bold  Phoenicians. 

Thus  were  the  Azores,  the  Canaries  and  Madeira  re- 
discovered and  settled,  the  pilots  venturing  with  terror 
into  that  “Green  Sea  of  Darkness”  where  sea  monsters 
threatened  their  passage,  and  at  last  daring  to  sail 
farther  into  the  southern  waters  where  not  only  the 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


13 


water  but  the  land  boiled  with  the  terrible  heat,  they 
said.  Rounding  Cape  Bojador  they  found  a coast 
populated  with  sturdy  blacks,  began  the  slave  trade 
that  demoralized  half  the  world;  in  i486  Bartholomeo 
Diaz  rounded  the  “Cape  of  Storms”  and  proved  that 
there  was  indeed  as  Henry,  dead  for  a quarter  of  a 
century,  had  dreamed,  a southern  gateway  to  the 
Spice  Isles  of  the  East — the  goal  of  adventurers  ever 
since  Marco  Polo’s  tale  was  spread  abroad. 

By  this  discovery  the  whole  imagination  of  seafaring 
Europe  was  awakened:  small  wonder  that  Columbus  in 
the  end  got  a hearing  when  he  talked  of  a sea-path  to 
the  East  by  way  of  the  West,  or  that,  on  his  return 
with  a story  of  rich  lands,  Spain  should  have  been 
satisfied  to  believe  the  theory  that  the  shores  of  Cathay 
had  been  found.  Columbus,  who  became  half  demented 
towards  the  close  of  his  life,  never  knew  that  he  had 
found  anything  but  lands  on  the  edge  of  Cathay;  he 
once  forced  his  men  to  take  an  oath  to  this  effect  under 
the  penalty  of  hanging  them  to  the  yards  of  his 
ship. 

To  his  obsession  was  chiefly  due  the  lack  of  any  clear 
conception  in  Europe  of  the  existence  of  a great  new 
continent  until  the  Portuguese  captain  stumbled  upon 
Brazil  in  1500,  although  three  years  before  Alonzo  de 
Ojeda  and  Amerigo  Vespucci  had  coasted  the  Carib- 
bean, charting  the  north  coast  of  Venezuela  and  Colom- 
bia as  well  as  the  east  of  Central  America.  That  year 
of  1497  was  the  great  year  of  discoveries,  in  sea  adven- 
ture, for  then  began  the  series  of  voyages  of  the  Cabot 
family,  Labrador  being  discovered  in  that  first  scour- 
ing of  the  north  seas  by  Europeans;  from  that  year  also 
dates  that  strange  chapter  of  oriental  history,  Portu- 


H 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


guese  rule  in  India,  when  Vasco  da  Gama  sailed  past 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  reached  Calicut. 

Early  in  1500  Captain  Pedro  Alvares  Cabral  was 
despatched  with  a fleet  of  thirteen  ships  to  follow  up  the 
conquests  of  da  Gama;  warned  of  the  calms  off  the 
African  coast  which  later  became  notorious  among 
sailors  as  the  “doldrums,”  he  stood  far  out  to  sea,  was 
caught  in  strong  currents,  and  found  himself  to  his  as- 
tonishment off  an  unknown  coast. 

Sailing  south  until  a safe  landing  place  was  reached 
(Porto  Seguro,  some  twelve  miles  north  of  the  little 
town  on  the  Bahian  coast  that  today  bears  the  name) 
he  landed  on  Good  Friday  morning,  was  received  in  a 
friendly  manner  by  the  South  American  natives  to 
whom  Europe  was  thus  discovered,  took  possession  of 
the  territory  in  the  name  of  the  Portuguese  King,  sent 
a ship  back  to  Lisbon  under  Andre  Goncalves  to  report 
the  discovery,  and  sailed  on  again  to  India. 

Dom  Manoel  was  sufficiently  interested  by  the  tale 
of  Goncalves  to  make  farther  investigation,  equipped 
three  vessels  and  sent  them  under  the  command  of  the 
Sevillian  pilot  Amerigo  Vespucci  to  examine  the  new 
Terra  da  Vera  Cruz.  On  the  way  they  met  Cabral’s 
fleet  returning  from  India,  and  this  explorer  put  his 
helm  about  and  with  them  re-found  eastern  South 
America,  sailing  along  and  charting  most  of  the  coast  of 
Brazil.  It  is  the  precision  and  not  the  inaccuracies  of 
these  sixteenth  century  maps  that  form  their  most  re- 
markable feature. 

On  this  journey  much  hostility  was  shown  by  coast- 
dwelling natives,  and  a couple  of  landing  parties  met 
with  disaster;  the  cannibal  taste  of  the  “Indians”  was 
plainly  demonstrated.  No  settlement  was  made.  A 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


IS 


year  later,  in  1503,  Duarte  Coelho  came  with  another 
fleet,  seeking  the  waterway  to  India  that  was  one  of 
the  dreams  of  adventurous  Europe:  another,  allied  to 
the  first,  was  the  quest  of  Prester  John.  Anyone  who 
could  find  a quick  sea-path  to  India  and  at  the  same 
time  find  and  form  an  alliance  with  the  mysterious 
Christian  Priest-King,  would  wield  power  beyond 
rivalry. 

Duarte  Coelho  was  unlucky.  His  flagship  and  three 
other  vessels  were  cast  away  on  Fernando  Noronha 
island,  the  other  two  reaching  the  shelter  of  what  is 
today  Bahia.  Here  the  natives  were  kindly  disposed, 
a little  colony  of  twenty-four  men  elected  to  stay  be- 
hind near  Caravellas,  and  after  a stay  of  five  months 
the  rest  of  the  explorers  went  back  to  Portugal.  They 
took  with  them  logs  cut  from  the  coastal  forests  which 
proved  to  yield  a dye  equal  to  that  known  in  Europe 
as  “brasil,”  a much  prized  deep  red  colour:  they  also 
carried  back  Brazilian  monkeys  and  some  of  the  parrots 
and  macaws  still  common  in  the  north.  Many  of  the 
old  maps  of  Brazil  are  marked  “Terra  dos  Papagaios” 
(Land  of  Parrots)  instead  of  the  official  “Terra  da  Vera 
(or  Santa)  Cruz,”  but  it  was  not  long  before  the  new 
country  became  generally  known  as  the  Land  of  Brazil- 
wood, and  finally  as  Brazil. 

From  1503  onwards  no  attempt  at  settlement  or 
conquest  of  the  land  was  made  for  thirty  years;  cap- 
tains on  their  way  to  India  called  at  the  coast  for  fresh 
water,  and  on  the  return  sailed  into  some  northern 
wooded  bay  and  cut  brazil-wood.  The  real  attention 
of  Portugal  was  taken  up  with  the  splendid  spoil  that 
fell  so  readily  to  her  hands  in  India;  she  loaded  her 
caravels  with  the  silks  and  spices  and  precious  stones 


i6 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


of  the  East,  just  as  Spain  a little  later  loaded  her  stout 
ships  with  the  treasures  of  the  Aztecs  and  the  Incas. 
Territory  offering  nothing  more  and  nothing  less  than 
fertile  soil  and  genial  climate  was  little  considered  in 
the  midst  of  those  visions  of  gold:  since  then  the  whole 
world  has  been  plunged  in  blood  for  the  sake  of  such 
wide  spaces  of  land.  Land  in  great  areas  only  became 
highly  valorized,  both  in  the  Americas  and  Africa, 
when  the  virile  races  of  Europe  needed  space  for  their 
teeming,  dominating  children. 

Brazil  benefited  from  her  lack  of  wealthy  cities  offer- 
ing loot.  As  a consequence  of  that  lack  she  was  not 
flooded,  as  were  Mexico  and  Peru,  with  gold-seeking, 
brutal  adventurers,  but  was  instead  slowly  colonized 
by  genuine  settlers.  Some  of  them  did  not  come  will- 
ingly, for  Portugal  used  certain  tracts  spasmodically 
as  penal  settlements,  but  in  the  Middle  Ages  severe 
punishment  was  frequently  dealt  out  for  offences  that 
would  today  be  considered  light,  and  many  of  the  con- 
victs thrust  across  the  Atlantic  turned  out  to  be  good 
citizens : good  or  bad,  they  were  the  stuff  of  which  bold 
pioneers  are  made,  and  to  their  extraordinary  hardi- 
hood and  that  of  their  tireless  descendants  of  mixed 
blood  the  conquest  of  interior  Brazil  was  due. 

Portugal  delayed  occupation  of  Brazil  until  other  Eu- 
ropean countries  began  to  establish  themselves  along  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  neglected  shore.  In  1515  the  mouth 
of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  had  been  discovered  by  Juan  de 
Solis,  and  Spanish  settlements  were  set  up  south  of  the 
Portuguese  claims — still  indefinite.  In  1540  the  Span- 
ish captain  Orellana  made  his  wonderful  journey  from 
Peru  over  the  Andes  and  down  the  Amazon,  and  roused 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


1 7 


the  interest  of  Europe,  but  long  before  then  the  Dutch 
were  trying  to  establish  outposts  on  northerly  Amazon- 
ian tributaries,  and  the  French  had  settled  a little 
colony  at  Pernambuco. 

Of  these  the  Portuguese  made  short  shrift,  a fleet 
being  sent  from  Lisbon  specially  for  their  expulsion, 
but  the  settlement  made  by  royal  orders  on  the  same 
spot  met  with  no  better  fate,  for  in  1527  French  raiders 
sacked  the  infant  colony,  to  be  followed  a few  months 
later  by  an  English  raiding  party  under  Hawkins.  The 
Portuguese  Government,  forced  to  take  measures, 
determined  on  a plan  which  had  already  given  good 
results  on  the  island  of  Madeira.  Instead  of  assuming 
the  burden  of  colonization  on  the  account  of  the  govern- 
ment, large  grants  of  land  were  made  to  Portuguese  of 
high  standing  or  wealth;  on  them  fell  the  burden  of 
settlement,  but  on  the  other  hand  to  them  would  accrue 
the  chief  rewards  of  tropical  adventure  and  industry. 
The  Crown  attained  several  objects  at  one  stroke — the 
colonizing  of  a difficult  country,  the  rewarding  of  many 
noblemen  whose  claims  were  apt  to  be  troublesome, 
while  at  the  same  time  an  outlet  was  provided  for  the 
adventurous  and  turbulent.  The  waning  of  her  power 
in  India  left  Portugal  with  a surging  class  of  stout- 
hearted folk  upon  her  hands:  she  sent  them  to  Brazil, 
and  suffered  as  Brazil  benefited. 

The  allotment  of  Brazil  into  separate  capitanias  (cap- 
taincies) was  made  in  1530;  the  average  coastal  strip 
presented  to  the  holders  was  fifty  leagues,  and  as  to  the 
depth  of  the  land  commanded  was  a matter  for  the 
individual  captain:  he  could  have  as  much  as  he  could 
conquer.  No  one  had  any  idea  of  what  the  hinterlands 
contained,  for,  with  the  exception  of  the  riverine  ex- 


18 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


plorations  of  the  Spanish  on  the  Orinoco  and  the 
Plata,  Europeans  had  not  visited  the  South  American 
interior  east  of  the  Andes. 

Martim  Affonso  de  Souza  came  out  in  1531  as  Ad- 
miral of  the  Coast,  empowered  to  mark  out  the  capi- 
tanias  and  to  keep  one  for  himself;  he  found  French 
vessels  hovering  about  Pernambuco,  seized  them,  and 
went  on  to  Bahia  (Bahia  de  Todos  os  Santos)  named 
thirty  years  before  and  frequently  visited,  where  he 
found  a Portuguese  sailor,  survivor  of  a shipwreck,  mar- 
ried to  the  daughter  of  an  Indian  ruler  and  living  like  a 
patriarch  with  a large  family  already  grown  up  about 
him.  This  Caramaru,  “big  fish  caught  among  rocks,” 
was  of  great  help  to  the  Portuguese  when  the  colony 
was  founded,  and  his  half-breed  family,  possessing 
Indian  knowledge  and  Portuguese  leanings,  formed  the 
nucleus  of  the  true  hardy  Brazilian  of  the  north  coast. 
Sailing  south  on  his  delimitation  errand,  Affonso  de 
Souza  entered  Rio  harbour,  but  passed  on  to  mark  out 
his  own  capitania  on  the  hot  sands  of  the  Sao  Paulo 
coast,  near  the  present  Santos,  under  the  name  of  Sao 
Vicente.  By  a freak  of  fate,  here  the  story  of  old 
Caramaru  was  duplicated.  On  the  uplands  beyond  the 
Serra  do  Mar  another  Portuguese  sailor  was  living,  one 
Joao  Ramalho  married  to  the  daughter  of  the  native 
chief  Tibiriga,  and  also  surrounded  by  an  extraordinary 
number  of  descendants:  these  children  and  grand- 
children of  Ramalho  were  the  first  mamelucos,  that  bold 
tribe  who  were  thorns  in  the  flesh  of  the  Jesuits,  but 
who  were  instrumental  in  giving  Matto  Grosso,  Goyaz 
and  Minas  Geraes  to  Brazil. 

Martim  Affonso  de  Souza  marked  out  twelve  capi- 
tanias,  but  of  the  accepted  applicants  few  besides  him- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


19 


self  made  serious  and  systematic  efforts  to  settle  and 
hold  their  great  lands;  the  rights  offered  them  were 
very  large,  including  almost  every  authority  of  the  king 
himself  except  that  of  coining  money:  possession  was 
perpetual  and  hereditary.1  “If  these  hereditary  cap- 
taincies had  continued  to  exist,”  says  the  Brazilian  his- 
torian, Luis  de  Queiros,  “we  should  have  today  so  many 
republics,  corresponding  to  the  number  of  territorial 
divisions,  and  not  a homogenous  whole  which  a nation 
so  full  of  life  and  hope  as  Brazil  constitutes.  By  good 
luck,  however,  almost  all  of  the  recipients  of  the  grants 
were  unsuccessful  in  their  attempts  at  colonization,  and 
some  of  them  did  not  make  any  real  beginning.  . . .” 
In  the  far  north  nothing  was  done  by  the  donatario  to 
colonize  Ceara,  and  it  was  not  until  the  French  had  for 
years  established  themselves  on  that  coast  and  inside 
the  mouth  of  the  Amazon  that,  in  1616,  a Portuguese 
military  expedition  from  Maranhao  turned  out  these 
rivals  and  founded  Para.  Genuine  colonization  work  was 
done  at  three  outstanding  points — Pernambuco,  Bahia, 
and  Sao  Vicente,  or  rather,  Sao  Paulo,  which  became 
active  nuclei  of  agricultural  production,  of  a sturdy 
population  born  on  the  soil,  dowered  with  a clannish 
fighting  spirit  that,  local  as  it  was,  did  much  that  was  of 
extreme  value  in  the  evolution  of  Brazil.  The  strength 
of  two  of  these  centres,  S.  Paulo  and  Bahia,  was  largely 

1 Martim  Affonso’s  capitania,  then  the  most  southern  part  of  Portuguese 
territory,  had  one  hundred  leagues  of  coastline,  with  headquarters  at  S. 
Vicente;  next  came  Santo  Amaro  (Itamaraca)  and  Parahyba  do  Sul  (present 
Rio  de  Janeiro  State);  Espirito  Santo;  Porto  Seguro;  Ilheos,  stretching  up 
to  the  south  of  the  Bahia;  Bahia  itself,  running  from  the  Bay  to  the  mouth 
of  the  S.  Francisco  river;  Pernambuco;  Maranh'o,  divided  into  3 captaincies 
of  which  two,  totalling  150  leagues,  went  to  Joao  de  Barros,  the  third,  of 
75  leagues,  to  Fernao  Alvares  de  Andrade;  most  northerly  came  Ceara. 


20 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


derived  from  the  two  old  Portuguese  castaways,  the 
battered  heroes  Ramalho  and  Correia;  that  of  the  third 
markedly  successful  colony,  Pernambuco,  was  due  to 
the  powerful  personality  and  real  ability  of  the  Captain, 
Duarte  Coelho;  he  was  aided  by  the  fertility  of  the  soil 
of  the  north-eastern  promontory,  Pernambuco  showing 
itself  so  prolific  a producer  of  sugar  that  it  began  to  feed 
the  mother  country  from  very  early  colonial  days,  no 
less  than  forty-five  ships  a year  calling  to  fetch  sugar 
and  brazil-wood.  Settled  with  good  immigrants  by 
Duarte  Coelho,  who  protested  successfully  against  the 
dumping  of  convicts  upon  his  capitania  and  ruled  his 
people  like  a feudal  lord,  Pernambuco  was  the  only 
territory  that  escaped  control  by  the  Captain-General 
sent  out  by  the  Crown  in  1549  to  try  the  effect  of  cen- 
tralized power  upon  the  languishing  capitanias.  Hardy 
and  jealous  of  their  independence,  the  Pernambucanos 
remained  a little  kingdom  apart,  ruled  over  by  Duarte 
Coelho  and  his  wife’s  relatives  after  him,  until  the 
Dutch  appeared  in  strength  off  the  north  Brazilian 
coast  and  from  1630  onwards  for  over  twenty  years  held 
possession  of  Pernambuco  and  a long  strip  of  the  coast 
above  it.  The  Pernambucanos  have  always  been  a 
factor  to  be  reckoned  with  in  Brazilian  affairs:  the  terri- 
tory they  hold  is  richly  productive  and  has  never  looked 
back  in  commercial  importance.  They  do  not  forget 
that  great  tracts  of  land  were  in  early  days  won  by  their 
ancestors  by  hard  fighting  from  the  Indians,  nor  that 
they  have  sent  many  an  able  son  to  high  places  in  the 
governing  of  Brazil.  It  was  the  productivity  of  the 
Pernambuco  (“Nova  Lusitania”)  and  Bahia  colonies 
that  made  colonial  Brazil  valuable  and  attracted  hardy 
settlers  to  her  shores. 


* « 


Ponte  Santa  Isabel,  Recife  (Pernambuco). 
Prafa  Maua — one  of  Rio’s  wharves. 
Water-front  at  Bahia,  Lower  City. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


21 


Bahia  was  the  queen  city  of  Brazil  from  1549,  when 
Thome  de  Souza  was  sent  out  as  Captain-General  and 
made  this  the  administrative  and  political  head  of  the 
country,  until  1762,  when  Rio  de  Janeiro  became  the 
Vice-regal  Capital;  she  also  was  a fighting  city,  seized 
and  sacked  now  and  again  but  successful  in  getting  rid 
of  her  foes  in  the  end,  and  she  was  the  centre  of  tobacco 
cultivation  from  early  days.  When  gold  and  diamonds 
were  discovered  in  the  interior  valleys  and  serras  the 
Bahianos  played  a plucky  part  in  exploration  and 
opening,  as  well  as  charting,  regions  of  forest  and  sertao 
hitherto  unseen  by  white  men.  To  the  men  of  Bahia, 
as  well  as  to  the  courageous  legions  of  Pernambucanos 
led  by  the  Albuquerque  family,  Brazil  owes  much:  but 
the  great  pioneers,  the  unsurpassed  confronted  of  hard- 
ship, the  men  who  made  Brazil  the  huge  country  that 
she  is  instead  of  the  strip  upon  the  Atlantic  seaboard 
that  she  might  have  remained,  were  the  bandeirantes 
of  Sao  Paulo. 

When  the  gallant  Martim  Affonso  de  Souza,  sailing 
first  to  Cananea,  eventually  built  his  modest  mud  and 
palm  leaf  town  at  S.  Vicente,  he  was  saved  from  the 
hostility  of  the  Tamoyo  Indians  by  the  friendliness  of 
Ramalho,  father  of  many  children  by  a daughter  of 
Chief  Tibiri^a.  The  Tamoyos  as  a rule  gave  a great 
deal  of  trouble  to  the  Portuguese,  although  the  French 
in  their  numerous  attempts  at  settlement  along  the 
Brazilian  littoral  always  managed  to  make  fast  friends 
of  this  tribe.  To  anyone  who  knows  the  Sao  Vicente  of 
today,  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  on  what  the  first  settlers 
lived;  the  shore  is  hot,  sandy,  backed  by  mangrove 
swamps,  producing  beans,  maize,  mandioca  and  sugar. 


22 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


Small  wonder  that  an  early  chronicler  said  that  to  live 
in  these  colonies  it  was  necessary  to  forget  all  Euro- 
pean habits  of  life,  to  begin  a new  existence  upon  new 
food,  with  all  old  ideas  of  comfort  and  even  necessity 
thrown  aside. 

When  a company  of  Jesuit  priests,  headed  by  Jose  de 
Anchieta,  came  to  S.  Vicente,  they  found  their  ministra- 
tions thrown  away  on  a disorderly  and  undisciplined 
band  of  settlers.  Conceiving  their  duty  to  be  here,  as 
the  Padre  de  las  Casas  and  many  of  his  cloth  conceived 
it  in  Mexico  and  Central  America,  the  Christianizing 
of  the  natives,  Anchieta  decided  to  leave  the  coast 
(where  Braz  Cubas  had  now  built  his  little  chapel  and 
hospital  on  the  island  where  Santos  stands  today)  and 
seek  converts  in  the  uplands.  The  mountain  barrier 
was  climbed,  and  on  January  25,  1554,  an  altar  was 
set  up  on  the  green  and  well-watered  plains  of  the  in- 
terior, and  mass  was  said  on  a site  named  Sao  Paulo  de 
Piritininga,  in  honour  of  the  saint  whose  day  it  was. 
The  habit  of  early  missionaries  and  discoverers  of 
naming  new  places  with  the  Roman  calendar  in  their 
hands  has  helped  the  historian  to  fix  many  a doubtful 
date. 

A few  miles  away  from  the  mission  was  the  town  of 
Joao  Ramalho,  who  had  been  tactfully  confirmed  in 
his  possession  of  lands,  the  “Borda  do  Campo,”  by  Por- 
tugal, while  his  settlement  was  formally  named  a town- 
ship with  the  title  of  Santo  Andre  in  1533.  Its  site  was 
near  the  present  Sao  Bernardo,  an  open  sunny  region 
of  prairie  with  woods  on  the  horizon. 

With  this  tribe  of  Ramalho’s  making  the  Jesuits 
sought  no  connection;  they  could  not  convert  those 
half-breeds  any  more  than  they  could  make  the  hardy 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


23 


impenitents  on  the  coast  give  up  stealing  Indians. 
Better  and  more  pliable  material  was  to  hand  in  the 
pure  Indian  tribes;  two  groups,  one  under  Tibiriga  and 
the  other  under  chief  Cai-Uby,  built  their  cabins  in 
new  S.  Paulo,  Tibiri^a’s  people  forming  a line  which  is 
now  the  Rua  Sao  Bento,  while  the  other  converts 
guarded  the  road  that  led  over  the  hills  to  S.  Vicente.1 
It  was  not  long  before  trouble  came.  Joao  Ramalho’s 
children  plagued  the  priests:  the  priests  retaliated  by 
getting  an  order  from  the  then  Captain-General,  Mem 
de  Sa,  by  which  Santo  Andre  was  razed  to  the  ground 
and  its  inhabitants  forcibly  incorporated  in  Sao  Paulo. 
The  latter  soon  changed  its  character  as  a peaceful 
mission  settlement,  the  Indians  suffered  from  aggres- 
sions by  the  whites  who  now  came  up  from  S.  Vicente 
or  their  own  half-white  kin,  and  in  the  end  a concerted 
attack  was  made  by  the  natives  upon  the  town,  only 
old  Tibiriga  remaining  loyal.  The  Indians  were  beaten, 
but  the  Jesuits  saw  that  the  mission  could  not  be  re- 
stored; they  determined  to  carry  the  cross  farther 
afield.  With  indomitable  energy  and  indifference  to 
suffering  the  band  of  priests  made  their  way  across  the 
interior  plains  and  woodlands,  until  they  founded  a 
new  city  (Ciudad  Real)  at  the  junction  of  the  Parana 
and  Piquery,  and  began  to  gather  the  Indians  together 
in  new  settlements. 

For  a time  they  were  undisturbed.  But  the  life  of 
the  new  Portuguese  colonies  depended  upon  agricul- 
ture; the  white  men  were  neither  many  enough  nor 
sufficiently  acclimated  to  till  the  fields  themselves,  and 
they  seized  the  unfortunate  natives  and  forced  them 
to  field  labour.  It  was  unsatisfactory  work,  as  a rule: 

1 Calculation  of  the  Brazilian  historian  Theodoro  Sampaio. 


24 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


the  native  of  the  eastern  coasts  of  South  America  was 
not  a cultivator  of  the  soil  by  habit,  but  rather  a hunter 
and  fisher,  as  he  is  still  in  his  interior  retreats.  They 
were  too  on  the  whole  a gentle  as  well  as  an  idle  race, 
and  they  died  like  flies  under  the  whip. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  coast  plantations  of  the 
Portuguese  were  denuded  of  workers:  to  get  more 
slaves  it  was  necessary  to  follow  the  Indian  across  the 
sertoes.  It  was  about  1562  that  the  first  slave-hunting 
expeditions,  the  “entradas,”  began;  they  were  headed 
by  the  mamelucos , the  descendants  of  Ramalho,  who 
had  no  hesitation  about  betraying  their  native  kinsfolk 
to  the  white  man.  Violence  was  avoided:  the  preferred 
plan  was  to  coax  any  tribe  approached  “ com  muito 
geito  e enganos”  and  only  when  blandishment  failed 
was  force  resorted  to.  Tamed  natives  accompanied 
the  “entries”  and  when  the  children  of  the  woods  heard 
tales  of  waiting  pleasures  told  in  their  own  tongue, 
whole  clans  often  followed  willingly  to  the  coast,  never 
to  return.  When  they  retreated  more  deeply  and  be- 
came more  wary,  and  it  was  found  that  the  Jesuits  were 
advising  them,  a grimmer  system  was  planned;  it  was 
decided  to  conduct  open  warfare  against  the  missions. 

By  this  time,  in  the  first  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  the  Jesuits  had  attained  remarkable  success 
with  their  converts;  they  were  not  content  with  teach- 
ing them  the  Christian  faith,  but  insisted  upon  the 
girls  learning  spinning  and  weaving  while  the  men 
planted  and  reaped.  Results  were  much  the  same  as 
those  desired  by  the  coast  settlers,  but  methods  dif- 
fered. About  Ciudad  Real,  in  the  Guayara  region, 
fourteen  great  missions  flourished  when  the  Paulistas 
began  to  disturb  them:  by  the  middle  of  the  sixteen 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


25 


hundreds  they  were  all  broken  up,  the  fields  waste,  the 
priests  fled,  and  the  Indian  converts  prisoners  in  S. 
Paulo  or  hiding  in  the  forests. 

To  accomplish  this,  more  careful  expeditions  were 
arranged  than  the  earlier  “entradas,”  although  the 
mamelucos  had  made  some  wonderful  journeys,  across 
the  river  Paraguay,  over  the  Chaco  and  into  Bolivia, 
now  and  again  having  a brush  with  the  Spanish  settlers 
of  the  South,  who,  later  on,  were  expelled  from  tentative 
settlements  in  Rio  Grande  do  Sul:  no  land  was  too  wide 
for  the  Paulistas  to  hold.  But  the  “bandeiras”  were 
now  organized  like  an  army,  men  enlisted  in  them  reg- 
ularly and  accepted  rigorous  discipline.  Beginning  with 
the  deliberate  object  of  uprooting  Jesuit  control  of  the 
Indians,  explorations  continued  in  this  form  for  over 
eighty  years  with  other  aims  added — conquest  of  the 
interior,  discovery  for  its  own  sake,  and  search  for 
mines  of  gold  and  precious  stones,  as  well  as  the  repres- 
sion of  Spanish  entries  from  the  south  and  from  Peru. 

At  the  time  when  these  extraordinary  expeditions 
began  the  interior  of  South  America  was  still  unknown. 
The  high  sertao  and  the  forests  were  still  full  of  mystery, 
although  the  coast  had  been  stripped  of  such  marvels  as 
the  giants  who  frightened  Pinzon’s  sailors,  the  men 
fourteen  feet  high  seen  by  Magalhaes,  and  the  alligators 
with  two  tails  which  Vespucci  reported.  In  the  interior 
magic  still  reigned,  with  its  trees  yielding  soap  and 
glass,  Lake  Doirada  with  shining  cities  about  its  margin, 
and  the  marvellous  kingdom  of  Paititi,  lure  of  many 
disastrous  expeditions,  where  some  of  the  natives  were 
dwarfs,  others  fifteen  feet  tall,  some  had  their  feet 
turned  backwards  and  others  had  legs  like  birds.  The 


26  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

bandeirante  opened  the  sertao  and  dispelled  these 
wonders. 

In  his  book,  0 Sertao  antes  da  Conquista,  Sampaio 
says  that  the  Paulista  “was  compelled  by  his  habitat 
to  be  a bandeirante:  the  conquest  of  the  interior  was 
written  in  his  destiny.”  If  that  is  true,  at  least  these 
labours  were  taken  up  with  a kind  of  fierce  joy.  There 
was  scarcely  an  able-bodied  man  of  the  time  who  did  not 
join  one  or  more  of  the  bandeiras,  and  there  is  on  record 
the  case  of  Manoel  de  Campos  who  made  twenty-four  of 
these  journeys.  Many  bandeirantes  never  returned,  re- 
maining in  the  sertao  to  found  towns  in  Minas,  Matto 
Grosso  or  Goyaz;  some,  returning  after  years  of  absence, 
found  their  wives  married  to  other  men,  while  “many 
heroes  brought  back  from  the  sertao  children  whom 
they  had  not  taken  in,”  says  Rocha  Pombo. 

The  bandeira  went  always  under  the  supreme  com- 
mand of  a leader  to  whom  implicit  obedience  was  due; 
before  setting  out  the  bandeira  in  a body  heard  mass, 
the  leader  confessed  and  made  his  will,  invariably  in- 
cluding the  phrase  . . . “ setting  out  to  war  and  being 
mortal  and  not  knowing  what  God  our  Lord  will  do  with 
me.”  ...  A priest  accompanied  each  bandeira,  not 
only  to  shrive  the  dying  and  bury  the  dead,  but  by  way 
of  easing  the  conscience  of  the  band  regarding  their 
mission  and  “reconciling  it  with  the  Divine  Mercy.” 
The  outfit  for  every  man  was  made  at  his  own  cost,  and 
if  it  is  possible  to  judge  by  the  baggage  of  Braz  Gonsal- 
ves, who  died  on  an  expedition  in  1636,  and  whose 
goods  were  scrupulously  recorded  and  sold  at  auction, 
it  was  simple.  His  greatest  possessions  were  three 
negro  slaves,  but  he  had  also  an  awl,  a bit  and  a ham- 
mer, a pair  of  worn  slippers;  some  lead  and  gunpowder, 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


2 7 


one  tin  plate,  a chisel,  a mould  for  casting  shot,  a ball  of 
thread,  an  old  cape. 

It  was  only  possible  to  face  what  lay  beyond  the  out- 
posts of  settlement  when  equipped  and  ready  for  war; 
the  bandeirantes  knew  that  there  was  constant  risk  of 
attack  by  Indians  and  that  nature  opposed  them  with 
as  fierce  a menace.  The  country  through  which  they 
passed  was  likely  to  be  foodless,  and  they  were  prepared 
to  sow  seeds  of  grain  in  green  valleys,  camp,  and  wait 
until  the  crop  was  harvested  before  going  on  their  way. 

The  rivers  of  the  interior  plateau,  flowing  westward 
with  the  tilt  of  the  sertao,  themselves  offered  a great 
highway  of  adventure  to  the  early  bandeirantes,  bring- 
ing them  into  Paraguay  and  the  outskirts  of  Bolivia 
and  the  Argentine,  but  as  they  went  farther  afield  the 
Parana  was  left  to  the  east,  Goyaz  and  Matto  Grosso 
were  traversed,  and  the  path  of  the  pioneers  led  up  un- 
known mountains,  through  untracked  woodland;  they 
marched  across  boundless  prairies  as  if  navigating  the 
ocean,  with  only  a sea-compass  and  the  starry  night  to 
guide  them.  Nothing  checked  these  explorers;  had  not 
the  discovery  of  the  General  Mines  turned  their  minds 
to  gold-hunting,  they  might  have  followed  Antonio 
Raposo  across  the  Andes  and  disputed  Peru  with  the 
Spaniards.  Wherever  they  penetrated  they  established 
outposts  and  forts  counting  a collision  with  the  Spanish 
as  the  best  reason  for  creating  a stronghold:  it  was  the 
work  of  these  untiring  sertanistas  that  led  the  way  to 
the  present  magnitude  of  Brazil. 

The  bandeira  was  the  original  creation  of  the  Paulista, 
without  parallel  in  history;  not  even  the  white  pioneer 
of  North  America  had  the  same  functions:  he  neither 
wandered  so  far  nor  performed  such  deeds.  Joao  Ribeiro 


28 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


remarks  that  “as  in  the  case  of  the  caravans  of  the 
desert,  the  first  virtue  of  the  bandeirante  was  a resigna- 
tion almost  fatalistic,  and  abstinence  carried  to  an  ex- 
treme; those  who  set  out  did  not  know  if  they  would 
ever  return,  never  expected  to  see  their  homes  again — 
and  this  often  happened.”  The  bandeira  in  its  greatest 
phase  was  a travelling  city,  a commune  linked  by 
mutual  interests,  that  surged  forward  over  the  silent 
country;  nothing  deterred  them,  whether  mountain 
passes,  precipices,  hunger,  weariness,  or  constant  fight- 
ing. If  they  had  a path  it  was  that  of  the  crosses  on  the 
graves  of  the  men  who  had  gone  before  them.  They 
went  always  on  foot. 

There  is  a long  list  of  great  sertanistas.  It  includes 
many  names  well  known  in  Brazil  today — Martins, 
Soares,  de  Souza,  Barreto,  Tourinho,  Sa,  Leme,  Paes, 
Almeida,  Dias,  Ribeiro,  Carvalho,  Rodrigues,  and  a 
host  of  others;  few  men  escaped  the  lure  of  the  sertao, 
and  some  leave  stories  which  are  the  Iliads  of  Brazil, 
putting  these  among  the  great  adventures  of  all  time. 
There  is  for  instance  Antonio  Raposo,  who  headed  a 
bandeira  which  left  S.  Paulo  in  1628,  and  which  was 
“the  biggest  and  most  devastating  known.”  Three 
thousand  people  composed  the  expedition,  and  its 
main  object  was  the  destruction  of  the  Jesuit  missions 
on  the  Parana  river,  near  Ciudad  Real.  One  by  one  the 
missions,  which  had  grown  into  thriving  industrial  com- 
munities, were  attacked,  besieged,  and  smashed;  as 
they  fell,  escaping  brothers  or  converts  carried  the 
warning  to  other  convents,  stiff  fights  were  made,  and 
in  some  cases  long  resistance  was  maintained.  But  in 
the  end  the  Jesuits  were  broken  and  dispersed,  and  the 
bandeirantes  went  back  to  S.  Paulo  with  thousands  of 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


29 


Indian  slaves.  The  courageous  Jesuits  went  deeper  into 
the  interior,  collected  such  remnants  as  they  could  of 
their  property  and  their  proteges,  and  began  the  work 
again. 

Raposo,  years  afterwards,  made  another  journey 
which  brought  him  into  fame  as  a legendary  hero;  he 
crossed  the  Paulista  sertao  by  Tibagy,  thence  traversed 
the  heart  of  Brazil  from  south-east  to  north-west, 
entered  Peru,  scaling  the  Andes,  crossed  to  the  Pacific 
and  waded  into  those  waters  sword  in  hand;  returning, 
he  discovered  the  headwaters  of  the  Amazon,  sailed 
down  it,  and  when  at  last  after  years  of  travel  he  came 
back  to  Sao  Paulo  no  one  recognized  him. 

A magnificent  figure  among  indomitable  bandeirantes 
is  that  of  Fernao  Dias  de  Paes  Leme.  Well  may  the 
wild  sertao  be  haunted  by  the  shade  of  such  a man  as 
this,  or  of  his  lieutenant,  Borba  Gato,  or  that  father  and 
son  who  were  known  among  the  Indians  of  Govaz  as  Old 
Devil  the  First  and  Old  Devil  the  Second. 

Fernao  Dias,  the  “Hercules  of  the  Sertao,”  was  the 
discoverer  of  the  emerald  mines  of  Sumidouro,  after 
ten  years  spent  in  search.  He  was  a famous  slave- 
chaser  of  the  sixteen  hundreds,  an  extremely  religious 
man  whose  zeal  was  only  assuaged  by  much  building 
of  chapels  and  convents  with  the  money  earned  in  long 
raids;  practical,  astute,  suave,  he  won  his  ends  by  tact 
rather  than  violence,  among  his  exploits  being  that  of 
leading  the  whole  of  the  allied  Goyana  tribes  to  Sao 
Paulo.  Approaching  their  territory  Dias  made  no 
threats,  but  camped  nearby,  cultivated  fields  of  cereals 
and  vegetables,  and  so  ingratiated  himself  into  the 
confidence  of  Tombu  the  chief  that  one  day  the  old 
Indian  collected  his  people  and  agreed  to  go  to  the 


3° 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


pleasant  lands  of  which  the  Paulista  spoke.  Five 
thousand  natives  thus  marched  voluntarily  into  cap- 
tivity; Tombu  remained  the  worshipper  of  Fernao  Dias 
until  his  death,  but  with  the  exception  of  runaways 
none  of  the  Goyanas  ever  saw  the  sertao  again. 

This  was  in  1661.  Three  years  later  the  Portuguese 
court,  greatly  desiring  the  discovery  and  development 
of  mining  regions  which  should  yield  tribute  to  Lisbon, 
offered  special  rewards  to  discoverers  of  mines,  ap- 
pointed an  Administrator  of  Mines  in  Espirito  Santo, 
where  some  coloured  stones  had  been  found,  and  Af- 
fonso  VI  wrote  to  Fernao  Dias  asking  him  to  search 
the  interior  that  he  knew  so  well  for  the  source  of  the 
“emeralds”  whose  beauty  raised  hopes  of  finding 
mines  equal  in  value  to  those  of  the  Spaniards  in  New 
Granada  (Colombia),  still  today  the  cradle  of  the  finest 
emeralds.  As  a matter  of  fact  the  green  stones  found 
in  Brazil  are  the  beautiful  but  semi-precious  tour- 
malines. 

Consenting,  the  famous  bandeirante  made  some  pre- 
liminary excursions  and  in  1676,  when  he  was  over 
eighty  years  old,  led  out  a great  comitiva;  the  first  win- 
ter’s camp  was  made  in  a valley  beyond  the  Rio  Grande, 
the  second  at  Bomfim,  the  third  at  Sumidouro.  At 
last  in  the  Serro  Frio  some  showings  of  gold  were  lo- 
cated, and  on  the  way  back  Dias  died  by  the  Rio  das 
Velhas,  in  the  far  interior  across  Minas  Geraes.  The 
bandeira  had  gone  through  great  suffering,  and  scores 
of  men  were  buried  by  the  way:  at  one  time  the  rem- 
nants of  the  expedition  had  appealed  to  Dias  to  give 
up  the  hunt  and  return,  and  on  his  refusal  made  a plan 
to  kill  him.  The  conspiracy  was  headed  by  a young 
man  who  was  the  son  of  Dias  by  an  Indian  girl,  and 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


3i 


dearly  loved  by  the  old  sertanista,  but  when  convinced 
of  his  boy’s  guilt  Dias  hanged  him,  pardoning  the  other 
plotters  but  driving  them  from  the  camp. 

To  Fernao  Dias  was  due  the  exploration  of  what  is 
now  the  State  of  Minas  Geraes,  the  whole  of  it  falling 
practically  under  his  sway  as  the  founder  of  at  least  a 
dozen  towns  in  that  hilly  interior,  the  majority  sur- 
viving to  this  day.  His  search  had  a curious  sequel:  his 
son-in-law  and  faithful  aide,  Borba  Gato,  who  had 
found  gold  mines  in  Sahara  and  registered  them  in 
1700,  was  returning  to  S.  Paulo  after  the  death  of  his 
leader  when  he  met  with  a party  headed  by  the  official 
Administrator  General  of  Mines.  Borba  Gato’s  charts 
and  proofs  were  demanded,  refused,  a quarrel  broke 
out,  and  the  servants  of  the  pioneer  set  upon  the  Ad- 
ministrator and  killed  him.  Not  daring  to  face  S. 
Paulo  with  this  tale,  Borba  Gato  fled  to  the  interior 
where  a tribe  of  Indians  friendly  to  him  dwelt  by  the 
Rio  Doce,  and  there  lived  hidden  out  of  the  reach  of 
the  law  for  twenty  years.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  at- 
tempts to  find  the  Sahara  mines  having  failed,  he  was 
offered  a pardon  in  exchange  for  the  secret;  he  accepted 
the  offer,  returned  to  civilization,  and  presently  retiring 
to  a farm  with  his  family  died  peacefully  in  his  bed  at 
the  age  of  ninety. 

A direct  result  of  the  murder  of  the  Administrator 
was  the  stocking  of  the  sertao  of  Minas  with  cattle:  the 
entourage  of  the  dead  man,  as  much  horrified  by  the 
deed  as  was  Borba  Gato,  instead  of  returning  to  the 
capital  took  to  the  bush  with  the  seeds,  stores  and  live- 
stock without  which  no  expedition  set  out,  and  formed 
nuclei  of  fazendas  in  a score  of  different  places. 


32 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


One  of  the  earliest  discoveries  of  gold  in  Brazil  was 
made  by  Bartholomeu  Bueno  da  Silva  in  the  Serra 
Doirada,  in  Goyaz,  about  1682.  He  it  was  who  found 
the  Indians  wearing  scraps  of  gold  as  ornament,  and 
tricked  them  into  showing  the  place  of  its  origin;  dis- 
playing a bowl  of  agua-ardente  (aguardente — spirit 
made  from  sugarcane)  he  set  light  to  it,  telling  the 
Indians  that  it  was  water  and  that  he  would  in  like 
manner  set  fire  to  all  their  springs  and  rivers  if  they  did 
not  reveal  the  source  of  their  gold.  Southey  calls 
Bartholomeu  Bueno  “the  most  renowned  adventurer  of 
his  age,”  and  to  him  is  due  the  opening-up  of  Goyaz, 
until  then  only  entered  by  passing  slave-hunters:  but 
his  discoveries  were  not  followed  up  and  it  remained  for 
his  son,  nicknamed  by  the  Indians  Anhangoera  the 
Second  his  father  having  been  known  to  them  as  Old 
Devil  the  First  on  account  of  the  incident  referred  to 
above,  to  re-find  the  mines  and  extend  the  gold-mining 
fever  to  Goyaz.  It  was  in  1722  that  this  son,  then  a 
man  of  over  fifty  years,  succeeded  in  obtaining  govern- 
ment help  for  exploration:  by  this  time  Minas  was  over- 
run with  gold  seekers  from  every  part  of  Brazil  and  the 
authorities  were  ready  to  give  active  help  to  new  min- 
ing expeditions.  This  bandeira  set  out  with  great  eclat, 
crossed  the  Rio  Grande  and  wandered  for  three  years, 
the  leader  seeking  landmarks  dimly  remembered  from 
his  boyhood.  Persistent,  patient,  conciliating  his  weary 
followers,  he  founded  the  town  of  Barra,  at  last  located 
the  gold  mines,  returned  to  Sao  Paulo  and  got  together 
a new  band  of  men,  led  the  way  back  and  settled  them 
at  what  is  now  the  City  of  Goyaz,  and  so  closed  with  a 
remarkable  colonizing  feat  the  last  of  the  great  expedi- 
tions into  the  high  sertao. 


The  Falls  of  Iguassu. 

On  the  boundary  of  Argentina  with  Brazil;  this  series  of  lovely  cascades  is  said 
to  have  altogether  four  times  as  much  force  as  Niagara. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


33 


A little  later  gold-miners  penetrating  to  Matto 
Grosso  began  operating  at  Cuyaba,1  and  almost  im- 
mediately the  discovery  of  diamonds  at  Diamantina 
brought  a new  rush  of  people  into  this  far  interior 
region.  The  day  of  the  explorer,  the  true  bandeirante, 
was  over,  and  the  age  of  mining  was  by  this  time  in  its 
epoch  of  greatest  excitement. 

Few  writers  on  Brazil  have  refrained  from  scourging 
the  bandeirantes  for  their  cruelty  to  the  wretched  na- 
tives and  for  their  destruction  of  the  Jesuit  missions. 
It  is  true  that  they  were  brutal,  but  theirs  was  a brutal 
age,  and  in  explanation,  not  extenuation,  of  their  deeds 
it  should  be  remembered  that  they,  the  white  civilian 
colonists,  were  fighting  for  their  own  preservation 
against  hostile  Indians  whose  hand,  quite  naturally, 
was  against  the  invader,  and  secondly  against  their 
economic  ruin  by  the  line  of  action  taken  by  the  Society 
of  Jesus.  Not  only  did  the  patient  Jesuits  coax  and 
catechise  the  Indian,  but  they  put  him  to  work  in  the 
fields  and  sold  abroad  the  product  of  his  hands:  when 
later  on  conflict  raged  in  North  Brazil  between  colonists 
and  Jesuits  the  chief  grievance  was  that  the  Society, 
for  whose  support  the  civilian  community  was  taxed 
heavily,  used  the  Indian  labour  denied  by  Royal  decree 
to  the  settlers,  and  also  maintained  great  stores  ( arma - 
zens)  where  every  kind  of  European  merchandise  was 
kept. 

It  was  for  this  reason,  and  not  because  they  were  bad 
Christians,  that  the  colonists  of  Maranhao  once  stood 
on  the  shore  with  guns  in  their  hands  and  refused  to 

1 Brazilian  historians  differ  as  to  dates,  but  Southey  says  that  the  first 
discovery  of  gold  in  Matto  Grosso  was  made  in  1734  by  Antonio  Fernandez 
de  Abreu. 


34 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


allow  a shipload  of  Jesuits  to  land  until  they  had  given  a 
solemn  promise  to  do  nothing  with  the  Indians  except 
to  convert  them;  they  regarded  the  members  of  this 
religious  body  as  business  rivals.  Nor  were  the  Jesuits 
tactful  in  their  dealings  with  colonists  or  colonial  gov- 
ernment authorities;  secure  in  the  support  given  them 
not  only  by  the  Pope  but,  especially  perhaps  in  the 
period  of  Spanish  rule  in  Brazil  under  Philip  II,  by  the 
King,  they  made  no  concessions,  defied  the  civilians,  and 
apparently  courted  trials  of  strength:  right  or  wrong, 
they  were  able  to  count  upon  judgment  in  their  favour 
in  any  quarrel  referred  to  Europe. 

When  the  bandeirantes  began  their  unmerciful  raids 
upon  the  Jesuit  communities  in  the  south  Brazilian 
sertao  the  number  of  missions  had  increased  from 
thirteen  in  1610  to  twenty-one  in  1628,  and  to  them  had 
been  largely  drawn  the  natives  who  once,  as  Thome  de 
Souza  said  in  writing  to  Portugal,  had  been  so  thick 
that  “even  if  they  were  killed  for  market  there  would  be 
no  end  of  them.”  Attacked,  the  padres  might  well  have 
counted  upon  help  from  the  Governor  General  of  Brazil, 
but  for  the  fact  that  about  this  time  the  whole  military 
attention  of  the  authorities  was  taken  up  with  the 
determined  aggressions  of  the  Dutch  upon  the  northern 
capitanias;  the  affairs  of  Sao  Paulo  were  left  in  the 
hands  of  the  Paulistas.  The  great  matter  of  regret  is 
that  in  the  case  of  the  Jesuits  much  excellent  construc- 
tive work  was  wasted,  just  as  the  fine  colonizing  work 
of  the  French  in  Rio  and  in  Para  and  Maranhao  was 
destroyed,  and  that  of  the  Dutch  on  the  Amazon  and 
in  Pernambuco;  the  spirit  and  the  interests  of  the  times 
forbade  the  Portuguese  to  allow  settlers  of  other  races  a 
foothold  in  Brazil,  but  nevertheless  it  was  unfortunate 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


35 

that  so  much  good  blood  and  good  work  was  thrown 
away  in  a huge  land  that  so  badly  needed  both. 

While  the  Paulistas  were  exploring  and  adding  great 
tracts  to  the  colony  in  the  south,  a law  unto  themselves, 
undisturbed  by  invasion  except  an  occasional  attempt 
by  the  Spaniards  from  the  Plate  and  attacks  on  S. 
Vicente  by  English  and  French  corsairs,  the  history  of 
the  north  was  one  of  constant  aggression  and  desperate 
defence.  Until  the  year  1578  no  concerted  attempts 
were  made  by  England,  France  and  Holland  against 
the  colonies  of  Portugal,  a country  towards  which  feel- 
ing was  not  unfriendly  but  in  that  year  King  Sebastiao 
of  Portugal,  with  the  flower  of  his  nobility  was  killed  in 
North  Africa  in  the  terrible  battle  of  Alcazar  el  Kebir, 
and  Philip  II  of  Spain,  the  “Demon  of  the  Middle  Ages,” 
seized  Portugal  and  all  that  was  Portuguese  two  years 
later.  The  South  American  colonies  automatically 
came  under  his  sway,  and  at  once  fell  heir  to  the  feud 
between  Spain  and  her  European  neighbours.  Brazil 
was  fair  game,  and  during  the  sixty  years  that  elapsed 
before  Portugal  was  able  to  re-assert  her  independence 
the  easily  approached  northern  capitanias  were  threat- 
ened, sacked  and  occupied  by  one  or  another  of  the 
three  chief  enemies  of  Spain.  Sackings  of  coast  towns 
made  no  great  difference  to  the  development  of  Brazil; 
when  the  ransom  was  paid  the  raiders  sailed  away  and 
the  business  of  life  was  resumed  without  any  vital 
change;  no  towns  were  ever  ruined  by  such  predatory 
visits.  Occupation  of  districts  was  another  matter, 
and,  with  the  exception  of  loss  of  lives  every  one  of 
which  was  precious  in  young  colonies,  the  effect  was 
good  rather  than  harmful;  the  period  of  Dutch  rule  on 


36 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


the  northern  coast  of  Brazil  was  a lasting  beneficial 
stimulus.  Nor  was  Spanish  control  of  any  direct  hurt 
to  the  Portuguese  colonies:  their  internal  management 
was  little  interfered  with,  Portuguese  officials  continued 
to  be  appointed  to  Brazilian  posts,  and  if  Spain  did  not 
adequately  defend  them  because  her  hands  were  al- 
ready desperately  full  she  at  least  did  Brazil  the  kind- 
ness to  leave  it  alone.  The  one  serious  administrative 
measure  she  took  was  the  formation  in  Lisbon  of  a 
Junta  to  care  for  Brazilian  commerce,  similar  to  the 
Council  of  the  Indies  sitting  in  Madrid,  and  this  was 
undoubtedly  useful:  the  narrow  monopolistic  trading 
policy  pursued  was  simply  in  line  with  the  ideas  and 
practice  of  the  times.  It  was  protection  carried  to  an 
extreme,  was  useful  at  the  time  of  its  initiation,  and,  if  it 
outlived  its  usefulness  in  its  most  irksome  manifesta- 
tions, the  principle  has  so  far  survived  that  today,  in 
the  third  lustre  of  the  twentieth  century,  it  may  be  said 
that  only  one  great  commercial  nation  has  ever  def- 
initely thrown  it  aside. 

The  group  of  capitanias  extending  from  Espirito 
Santo  northwards  to  Ceara  were  when  Brazil  came 
under  Spanish  rule  the  most  productive  of  all;  it  was 
but  eighty  years  from  the  date  of  Cabral’s  discovery, 
and  only  fifty  from  the  time  of  colonization,  but  flourish- 
ing populations  were  settled  along  the  seaboard,  growing 
sugar,  tobacco  and  cotton  and  cutting  stacks  of  dye- 
woods  to  fill  the  fifty  ships  a year  that  called  at  the 
main  ports.  Bahia,  seat  of  the  Captain-General’s 
administration,  was  also  a bishopric,  and  the  chief 
religious  orders  had  settled  in  each  considerable  town 
and  founded  churches,  schools  and  convents.  In  1570  a 
Royal  Decree  forbade  the  compulsory  use  of  Indians  as 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


37 


labourers,  and  to  fill  the  ranks  of  field  workers  Africans 
were  brought  in:  to  this  idea  the  Portuguese  were 
inured,  for  the  West  Coast  of  Africa  had  been  a source 
of  labour  supply  for  them  since  1440;  it  was  the  dis- 
covery that  negroes  could  be  transplanted  to  the 
Americas  and  would  there  work  with  docility,  thrive 
and  multiply,  that  made  possible  the  cultivation  of 
thousands  of  square  miles  of  land,  both  in  North  and 
South  America,  and  warmly  as  we  may  reject  the  prin- 
ciple of  slave-labour  now,  it  was  the  only  one  which 
could  have  opened  American  lands  to  the  extent  which 
they  attained  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  cen- 
turies. The  white  man  could  not  have  performed  this 
physical  labour. 

Indian  labour  was  abolished  at  the  instance  of  the 
priests;  it  was  remarkable  that  to  the  enslavement  of 
Africans  under  circumstances  equally  brutal  no  objec- 
tion was  made.  Negroes  were  brought  to  Brazil  from 
1574  onwards  until  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade, 
though  not  of  slavery,  in  1854.  The  debt  of  Brazil  to 
the  African  negro  is  a very  heavy  one. 

Soon  after  the  junction  of  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese 
crowns  there  began  the  series  of  purely  plundering 
attacks  delivered  by  European  enemies  of  Spain  which 
lasted  until  the  establishment  of  the  Dutch  at  Pernam- 
buco, but  which  were  of  so  little  political  importance 
that  in  the  meantime  the  Portuguese  authorities  were 
able  to  destroy  entirely  the  French  settlements  at 
Maranhao  and  Para  which  lasted  from  1594  to  1615. 
The  work  of  replacing  French  with  Brazilian  settle- 
ments was  carried  out  by  Jeronymo  Albuquerque,  son 
of  a dominating  Pernambuco  family,  and  not  only  were 
well-started  French  colonies  ruined  but  the  exploration 


38 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


of  the  Amazon,  commenced  by  the  famous  Daniel  de  la 
Touche  (Seigneur  de  la  Ravardiere)  was  abruptly  ended. 

In  1621  the  Dutch  Company  of  the  West  Indies  was 
founded,  companion  organization  to  the  rich  East  Indies 
Company;  with  the  approval  of  the  Dutch  Govern- 
ment the  Company  was  equipped  for  settlement  and 
conquest,  and  could  call  upon  the  home  authorities  for 
the  help  of  ships  and  armed  men  if  war  occurred  in  the 
course  of  operations.  A fleet  of  thirty-six  vessels  under 
Admiral  Jacob  Willekens  sailed  for  Brazil  early  in  1624, 
made  directly  for  Bahia,  and  took  the  city  without  much 
trouble.  Holding  it  was  a different  matter,  the  popula- 
tion taking  to  arms,  and  a year  later  a combined  Span- 
ish and  Portuguese  fleet  arrived  and  forced  the  Dutch 
to  capitulate.  Another  impermanent  attack  was  made 
in  1627,  and  in  1630  a different  point  of  aggression  was 
chosen  by  a great  fleet  of  seventy  vessels:  the  Pernam- 
bucan  city  of  Olinda  was  besieged  and  taken,  the  Dutch 
secured  themselves  in  power  and  remained  masters  of 
this  and  three  other  capitanias  afterwards  seized;  they 
were  governed  by  the  West  India  Company  for  nearly 
twenty-five  years. 

Evidences  of  the  occupation  of  Olinda  and  its  sister 
settlement,  Recife,  now  the  capital  and  a very  flourish- 
ing city,  are  to  be  seen  in  the  many  houses  surviving 
with  curved  gables,  high  unbroken  fronts,  the  exterior 
walls  shining  with  blue  and  white  glazed  tiles;  the 
Dutch  brought  with  them  their  love  of  order  and  clean- 
liness, good  methods  in  plantation  management  and 
excellent  organizing  power,  and  the  only  genuine  ob- 
jection to  the  rule  of  the  Hollander  in  Brazil  was  that 
the  country  did  not  belong  to  him.  All  Brazilian  his- 
torians bear  witness  to  the  merit  of  Dutch  methods. 


Old  and  New  Brazil. 

A Remnant  of  Colonial  days;  street  in  Oiinda,  old  Modern  residences  near  the  Gloria  Gardens, 
capital  of  Pernambuco.  facing  the  bay,  Rio  de  Janeiro. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


39 


The  West  India  Company  was  able  to  induce  an  ad- 
mirable Governor  to  take  charge  of  the  new  possession, 
Prince  John  Maurice  of  Nassau;  he  reached  Recife  in 
1637,  and  inaugurated  a conciliatory  policy  towards 
such  Pernambucanos  as  would  accept  Dutch  rule:  those 
who  would  not  were  pursued  into  the  interior  forests 
where  they  retreated  under  one  of  the  Albuquerques, 
and  were  forced  to  flee  from  Alagoas  into  Bahia. 
When  such  resisters  were  caught  they  were  shipped  to 
Dutch  settlements  in  the  East  Indies. 

Religious  freedom  was  promulgated  by  the  Protes- 
tant rulers,  more  systematic  administration  of  settle- 
ments and  estates  inaugurated,  better  sugar  milling 
methods  introduced  as  well  as  farming  implements,  and 
the  scientific  exploration  of  the  interior  was  made. 
Prince  Maurice  brought  with  him  map-makers,  geol- 
ogists, botanists  and  expert  mineralogists,  and  sent 
them  to  the  valleys  and  hills  of  the  Bahian  hinterlands. 
Elias  Herkmann  took  an  expedition  of  one  hundred  men 
from  Recife  in  1641,  to  make  scientific  investigations,  and 
although  he  did  not  find  mines  of  importance  he  studied 
native  relics  and  language,  subsequently  publishing  a 
book  on  the  Tapuyo  race. 

George  Marcgraf  and  Wilhelm  Piso  are  also  Dutch 
names  of  note  in  connection  with  Brazil;  the  former 
studied  Brazilian  topography  and  water  systems  and 
wrote  a treatise  on  the  subject  as  well  as  the  Hisioria 
Rerum  N aturalium  Brazilium;  the  latter  was  the  first 
classifier  of  Brazilian  flora  and  fauna.  “We  owe  to 
him,”  says  Dr.  Egas  Moniz  of  Bahia,  “the  discovery 
of  the  emetic-cathartic  properties  of  ipecacuanha  and 
copaiba”  as  well  as  the  therapeutic  virtues  of  jab- 
orandi  and  red  mangue  and  several  other  drugs  ob- 


4o 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


tained  from  the  Brazilian  matto.  The  first  scientific 
charting  of  the  sertao  behind  Pernambuco,  Alagoas 
and  north  Bahia  was  done  during  this  time;  herds  of 
cattle  already  wandered  over  interior  pastures,  and 
settlers  led  by  the  independent  spirit  which  renders 
the  Brazilian  indifferent  to  solitude  had  formed  fazendas 
along  river  borders;  explorers  had  wandered  by  these 
water  paths  looking  for  mines,  but  systematic  maps 
and  charts  were  lacking. 

In  1640  Portugal  revolted  from  Spain,  regained  her 
independence,  and  offered  the  crown  to  a member  of 
the  House  of  Braganza,  a line  which  retained  its  in- 
heritance until  a few  years  ago.  The  effect  upon  the 
Americas  was  again  notable;  the  Pernambucanos,  still 
carrying  on  guerilla  warfare  from  the  forests,  were 
heartened,  obtained  help  from  an  enthusiastic  Bahia, 
and  redoubled  their  efforts;  the  Dutch  came  to  an 
agreement  with  Portugal  that  all  possessions  conquered 
by  them  during  the  Spanish  regime  should  be  held,  and 
tried  to  extend  their  holdings  farther  north — an  effort 
which  was  vain  in  itself,  costly  in  life  and  money,  and 
hardened  the  determination  of  the  colonists  to  do  for 
themselves  what  the  mother  country  would  not  do  on 
their  behalf.  In  1643  Prince  Maurice  returned  to  Hol- 
land: he  had  the  interests  of  the  colony  as  such  at  heart 
too  much  to  please  the  West  India  Company.  A liberal 
minded  man,  he  wished  to  see  the  colonial  ports  opened 
to  free  commerce,  succeeded  in  getting  the  Company 
to  forego  all  monopolies  except  that  of  taking  dyewoods 
away  from  Brazil  and  sending  in  slaves  and  munitions 
of  war,  any  Dutch  captain  being  free  to  visit  ports 
controlled  by  his  compatriots;  these  were  not  agreeable 
pills  for  a monopolistic  organization  to  swallow.  On 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


4i 


the  other  hand  in  recalling  Maurice  of  Nassau  the 
Company  lost  prestige,  henceforward  carried  on  a losing 
struggle  with  the  virile  Brazilians,  and  were  forced  out  of 
section  after  section  until  by  1648  only  the  forts  of 
Parahyba,  Rio  Grande  do  Norte,  the  island  of  Ita- 
maraca  and  the  city  of  Recife  were  in  Dutch  hands.  A 
certain  embarrassment  was  created  in  Europe  by  this 
situation,  and  the  Portuguese  Government,  taken  to 
task  by  Holland,  sent  emissaries  to  the  insurgent  Per- 
nambucanos  to  order  suspension  of  hostilities:  the 
leaders  replied  that  they  “would  go  to  receive  punish- 
ment for  their  disobedience  after  they  had  turned  the 
invaders  out  of  Pernambuco,”  and  went  on  with  the 
war.  Holland  herself,  now  at  loggerheads  with  Eng- 
land or  rather  with  Cromwell  on  account  of  her  support 
given  to  the  Stuarts,  could  not  help  her  Brazilian  col- 
ony; a severe  defeat  was  inflicted  by  the  Pernambucans 
in  1649,  at  the  battle  of  Guararapes,  and  the  Dutch, 
never  recovering  from  this  blow,  were  finally  obliged 
to  capitulate  to  Francisco  Barretto  in  January,  1654. 
The  Pernambucan  attackers  were  nerved  to  this  final 
effort,  the  storming  of  Recife,  by  the  news  of  the  dis- 
aster inflicted  on  van  Tromp’s  fleet  in  the  English 
Channel  at  the  hands  of  Blake. 

Three  months  later  the  Dutch  commander  with  all 
his  troops  left  Brazil,  and  the  only  fragments  remain- 
ing to  the  States  General  after  a tremendous  outlay  of 
money  and  blood  were  a few  islands  in  the  West  Indies 
and  a piece  of  the  Guiana  country:  small  return  for 
great  effort.  Portugal  paid  eight  million  florins  to  the 
Dutch  in  settlement  of  Brazilian  differences  and  agreed 
to  allow  Holland  free  trade  with  the  American  colonies 
in  all  articles  except  the  precious  brazil-wood. 


42 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


The  chief  results  of  Dutch  occupation  of  the  four 
capitanias  of  the  north-eastern  promontory  for  twenty- 
four  years  were,  first,  stimulation  of  world  interest  in 
this  part  of  the  vast  Americas,  for  the  sea-captains  who 
carried  Brazilian  products  for  the  first  time  into  other 
parts  of  Europe  than  Portugal  acted  as  advance  agents 
of  Brazilian  commerce:  second,  scientific  investigation 
into  natural  products  and  demonstration  of  the  value 
of  drugs  peculiar  to  this  part  of  South  America:  third, 
introduction  of  better  town  management  systems: 
fourth,  creation  of  a healthy  national  spirit  in  the  north- 
ern provinces,  with  lasting  effect  upon  character:  and 
the  quickening  of  colonization  in  the  extreme  north. 
It  was  not  until  the  Dutch  and  French  settled  in  Ceara 
and  Maranhao  and  on  the  Amazon  that  serious  efforts 
were  made  to  develop  these  tropical  territories  under 
the  equator;  the  year  1620  witnessed  the  first  arrival  of 
settlers  of  Portuguese  nationality  in  Maranhao  when 
two  hundred  families  came  from  the  Azores. 

Another  interesting  and  direct  result  of  the  Dutch  in- 
tervention was  the  creation  of  the  Companhia  do  Com- 
mercio  do  Brasil  (Commercial  Company  of  Brazil)  by 
the  Governor  General,  intended  as  a set-off  to  the 
Dutch  West  India  Company.  It  was  established  in 
1650,  received  monopolies  and  concessions  of  a valu- 
able character,  and  in  return  was  obliged  to  provide  a 
powerful  armed  fleet  to  convoy  merchant  vessels 
through  enemy-infested  seas.  The  Commercial  Com- 
pany did  as  a fact  render  great  services  to  the  Brazilians 
fighting  against  the  Dutch,  blockading  northern  ports 
while  insurgent  armies  attacked  by  land. 

While  the  north  was  struggling  with  the  Dutch  and 
French  and  incidentally  becoming  solidified  by  the 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


43 


tussle  until  a genuine  national  feeling  came  into  exist- 
ence, Bahia,  beating  off  attacks  and  remaining  the 
administrative  residence  of  a Captain-General,  was  the 
centre  of  the  wealthiest  part  of  the  colony;  all  the  slaves 
brought  from  Africa  were  sold  here,  and  although  they 
were  partly  distributed,  this  was  the  chief  slave-owning 
region  and  is  still  the  place  where  more  pure  negroes  are 
to  be  seen  than  anywhere  else  in  Brazil.  Farther  south 
Espirito  Santo,  one  of  the  oldest  of  Brazilian  colonies, 
was  growing  cane  and  raising  cattle,  but  suffered  from 
raiding  foreigners,  as  also  did  Ilheos;  Rio  de  Janeiro 
became  the  seat  of  a second  Captaincy-General  in 
1608,  for  a time,  with  command  over  S.  Vicente  and 
Espirito  Santo  but  had  no  importance  until  the  dis- 
covery of  mines  made  her  the  chief  gateway  to  the 
golden  regions.  Out  of  the  path  of  the  Dutch,  whose 
object  was  wide  agricultural  lands,  Rio  neither  suffered 
nor  gained  as  did  the  North;  at  this  part  of  the  Brazilian 
coast  the  mountain  barrier  comes  right  down  to  the  sea’s 
edge,  the  granite  wall  shouldering  into  the  waters  of  the 
deeply  indented  bay:  there  is  very  little  land  suitable 
for  plantations  except  in  narrow  valleys  until  the  Serra 
do  Mar  is  climbed.  It  was  this  lack  of  sugar  land  that 
kept  Rio  uncolonized,  lovely  as  she  is,  for  half  a century 
after  the  colonies  on  either  side  of  her  were  started; 
settlement  by  the  Portuguese  might  have  been  put  off 
still  longer  if  the  French  under  Admiral  Villegaignon 
had  not  taken  possession  of  the  bay  in  1555,  made 
friends  with  the  Tamoyo  Indians  as  the  Portuguese 
were  never  able  to  do,  fortified  a rocky  island,  and 
established  a Huguenot  colony  here — the  ill-fated 
“ France  Antarctique .”  The  energetic  Mem  de  Sa, 
Captain-General  after  Thome  de  Souza,  brought  a 


44 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


fleet  from  Bahia,  drove  the  French  into  hiding  on  the 
mainland,  sent  his  nephew,  Estacio  de  Sa,  to  Portugal 
to  get  help,  and  this  gallant  young  man  returned  with  a 
strong  force  in  1565.  In  two  years’  time,  with  troops 
from  Bahia  and  Sao  Paulo  assisting,  the  unfortunate 
Huguenots  were  utterly  defeated,  the  remnants  of  the 
exiles  retiring  into  the  woods  with  their  Indian  allies 
and  disappearing  from  history.  The  body  of  Estacio  de 
Sa,  killed  in  the  last  decisive  fighting,  was  buried  in  the 
shade  of  the  Pao  d’Assucar  near  the  first  Portuguese 
town  founded  in  the  bay  and  named  Sao  Sebastiao. 
Another  member  of  the  same  family,  Correia  de  Sa,  was 
sent  to  head  the  new  Portuguese  settlement,  and  event- 
ually died  there  at  the  age  of  1 1 3 . 

Division  of  Brazil  into  two  captaincies-general  in 
1608,  to  be  united  again  soon  afterwards  and  again 
subsequently  divided,  was  part  of  the  experiments 
made  by  the  European  home  governments,  apparently 
with  the  sincere  wish  to  develop  the  country;  it  was 
supposed  that  a region  so  vast  could  not  be  governed  by 
one  man,  but  as  a matter  of  fact  the  occupied  territory 
was  along  the  seaboard  on  the  whole,  and  communica- 
tion by  sea  was  fairly  speedy;  from  1549  onwards,  when 
the  first  Captain-General  was  appointed,  the  mother 
country  bought  up  when  convenient  the  strips  of  land 
belonging  to  the  heirs  of  the  donatarios;  some  new  cap- 
taincies were  also  added  from  time  to  time,  as  that  of 
Grao  Para  in  1616,  Minas  Geraes,  Matto  Grosso  and 
Goyaz  after  the  discovery  of  gold  and  diamonds,  and  an 
independent  State  of  Maranhao,  governed  separately 
from  the  rest  of  Brazil  was  also  created  in  1621,  thus 
adding  to  the  governmental  confusion  in  spite  of  good 
intentions.  Decentralization  was  increased  by  the 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


45 


lack  of  commercial  exchange  between  the  different 
regions,  and  no  successful  effort  improved  this  fault  until 
the  notable  Marquis  de  Pombal  took  matters  in  hand 
in  a statesmanlike  manner  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  buying  the  capitanias  which  were 
yet  in  private  hands,  creating  Brazil  a viceroyalty  and 
Rio  the  viceregal  capital. 

But  before  that  date  much  water  had  flowed  under 
Brazilian  bridges.  It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  book  to 
give  in  detail  the  history  of  Brazil,  but  to  show  the  chief 
events  and  their  effect  upon  development.  Following 
the  creation  of  the  capitania  system  and  its  series  of 
coastal  settlements  came  the  penetration  of  the  south- 
ern interior  by  the  Jesuits  in  their  “reductions,”  and  the 
scattering  of  these  centres  of  Indian  population  at 
the  hands  of  the  bandeirantes;  the  next  happening  of 
extreme  importance  for  Brazil  was  the  seizure  of  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  coast  by  the  Dutch  and  French,  with 
their  stimulating  effect  upon  Portuguese  colonization; 
it  was  after  this  that  the  gold  rush  to  the  interior  of 
Minas,  Goyaz  and  Matto  Grosso  populated  and  opened 
up  the  sertao  in  tiny  patches,  but  at  the  same  time  half 
denuded  the  coast  of  its  settlers  and  injured  the  agri- 
cultural production  of  the  country,  the  prosperity  of 
which  was  almost  entirely  owing  to  the  introduction 
of  negro  slaves,  another  great  factor  in  Brazilian 
progress. 

Today  the  mining  industry  of  Brazil  accounts  for  a 
very  small  item  on  her  exports  lists,  chiefly  because  the 
diamonds  which  go  out  are  mostly  contraband,  the 
gold  is  produced  by  only  two  principal  mines,  and  while 
there  is  a promising  export  of  manganese  it  is  insignifi- 
cant compared  to  the  big  business  of  the  country  or  to 


46 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


the  possibilities  contained  in  Brazil’s  mineral  seamed 
mountains.  In  the  early  eighteenth  century  Brazil 
was  a famous  gold  country,  and  it  is  reckoned  that  over 
five  hundred  million  dollars’  worth  of  this  metal  has 
been  taken  out.  Nearly  all  this  gold  was  found  in 
placers  easily  washed  out  by  hand  in  the  crudest  man- 
ner; when  the  rich  alluvial  deposits  along  river  valleys 
were  exhausted  Brazil  ceased  to  be  a gold  producer  on  a 
spectacular  scale.  In  Minas  Geraes  rich  sands  were 
found  near  the  present  Ouro  Preto,  the  first  mining  city 
that  was  founded  bearing  the  name  of  Villa  Rica;  all 
about  it  the  whole  country  is  still  in  heaps,  turned  over 
by  the  miners  who  came  a couple  of  hundred  years  ago. 
In  that  day  people  flocked  into  Minas,  coming  by  road 
from  S.  Paulo,  by  the  S.  Francisco  river  from  Bahia, 
and  by  a shorter  cut  over  the  mountain  passes  from 
Rio.  The  bones  of  many  folk  remained  by  the  way:  it  is 
said  that  of  one  band  of  300  Paulistas  setting  out  in 
1725  only  five  persons,  two  white  men  and  three  negroes, 
reached  their  objective,  the  far  interior  mines  of  Cuyaba. 
It  became  necessary  for  the  authorities  to  forbid  the 
taking  of  negroes  to  the  mines,  so  general  was  the 
abandonment  of  plantations,  but  the  protest  of  the 
Crown  was  only  half-hearted;  it  was  eminently  satis- 
factory that  a stream  of  gold  and  diamonds  should  flow 
across  the  Atlantic  to  Lisbon,  and  it  was  of  as  little  use 
for  governors  to  point  out  the  bad  economy  of  coastal 
depopulation  in  the  seventeen  hundreds  as  it  had  been 
for  Governor  Diogo  de  Menezes  to  write  to  the  King 
in  1608:  “ Your  Majesty  may  believe  me  that  the  true 
mines  of  Brazil  are  sugar  and  brazil-wood , whence  your 
Majesty  draws  so  much  advantage  without  costing  the 
Royal  Treasury  a single  penny.” 


Two  Views  of  Sao  Paulo  City. 

Sao  Paulo,  premier  city  of  the  leader  State  of  the  Brazilian  Union,  stands  on  the 
breezy  uplands  of  the  southern  plateau;  it  is  a busy,  prosperous  centre  with 
the  first  modern  civic  equipment.  Population  550,000. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


47 


Quarrels  at  the  mines  led  to  the  “Guerra  dos  Em- 
boabas,”  a factional  disturbance  between  the  Paulista 
discoverers  and  stranger  gold-diggers;  in  the  end  the 
Paulistas  were  driven  back,  retired  to  their  own  up- 
lands, and  Minas  Geraes  was  politically  separated. 
Indomitably  energetic,  the  men  of  S.  Paulo  turned  their 
attention  southward,  where  the  Spaniards  had  entered 
and  settled,  drove  the  intruders  out  of  Rio  Grande  do 
Sul  and  thus  secured  another,  and  one  of  the  finest, 
regions  for  Brazil. 

In  1750  King  John  V of  Portugal  died.  The  death  of 
Portuguese  monarchs  did  not  as  a rule  make  more  than 
a perfunctory  difference  to  the  Colonies,  but  in  this  case 
the  succession  of  Jose  I was  important  because,  with 
infinite  faith  in  his  brilliant  Minister  Sebastiao  Jose  de 
Carvalho  e Mello,  afterwards  Marquis  de  Pombal,  he 
left  the  chief  affairs  of  the  kingdom  to  these  able  hands. 
Pombal  has  been  bitterly  attacked:  he  was  without 
doubt  a man  of  iron;  but  he  was  a man  of  unusual  fore- 
sight and  intelligence  who  thoroughly  realized  the 
great  value  of  Brazil,  and  did  much  to  improve  economic 
conditions  in  that  huge  possession.  He  seems  to  have 
had  what  Brazilians  call  a palpite  concerning  the 
destiny  of  Brazil  and  Portugal. 

Almost  the  first  act  of  this  statesman  was  the  cur- 
tailing of  the  powers  of  the  Inquisition:  he  abolished 
autos  da  fe,  which  must  have  given  relief  to  Brazil  if 
the  historian  Porto  Seguro  is  correct  in  saying  that  no 
less  than  500  Brazilians  had  been  burnt  alive  in  Lisbon 
by  the  Holy  Office.  With  a special  eye  to  Portuguese 
America  he  reduced  taxes  on  tobacco  and  sugar,  had 
the  diamond  traffic  strictly  supervised,  created  com- 


48 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


mercial  companies  to  trade  with  Para,  Maranhao, 
Pernambuco  and  Parahyba;  specially  encouraged  the 
plantation  of  rice  and  cotton  in  the  North;  legislated 
most  of  the  commerce  which  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
enterprising  English  into  Portuguese  channels;  inaugu- 
rated good  ship-building  yards  in  Brazilian  ports;  set- 
tled boundary  disputes  with  the  Spanish  on  Brazilian 
borders;  brought  all  capitanias  still  in  private  control 
under  the  Portuguese  Crown — Cameta,  Caete,  Ilha  de 
Joannes,  Itamaraca,  Reconcavo  de  Bahia,  Ilheos,  Porto 
Seguro,  Sao  Vicente  and  Campos  dos  Goytacazes;  and 
as  his  most  powerful  and  bitterly  assailed  effort  he 
laid  hands  on  the  Jesuits.  The  Society,  overwhelmed 
in  the  South,  was  strongly  entrenched  in  the  North 
since  the  opening  of  Para  and  Maranhao;  they  had 
done  wonderful  and  self-sacrificing  work  there;  but  they 
hostilized  the  colonists  and  made  the  mistake  of  arming 
their  proteges  the  Indians  against  the  settlers.  They 
constituted  themselves  in  Brazil  as  Bartolome  de  las 
Casas  did  in  Mexico  and  Guatemala,  the  Defenders  of 
the  Indians;  they  were  extraordinarily  successful  with 
them,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  if  some  working 
arrangement  could  have  been  found  between  the  colon- 
ists and  Jesuits  a great  problem  might  have  been  solved 
— that  of  obtaining  some  control  over  the  natives  and 
teaching  them  industries  without  undermining  their 
peculiar  physical  constitution.  With  the  best  inten- 
tions in  the  world,  more  modern  efforts  made  to  hold 
the  Indian  tribes  in  civic  life  have  ended  in  their  speedy 
dwindling  and  extinction;  no  one  except  Colonel  Ron- 
don  seems  able  to  teach  the  Indian  and  keep  him 
alive. 

To  break  up  the  Jesuit  missions,  Pombal  in  1755  de- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


49 


creed  the  “emancipation  of  the  Indians  of  Para  and 
Maranhao,”  a curious  corollary  to  the  laws  that  the 
Society  had  themselves  obtained  earlier  forbidding  the 
Portuguese  settlers  to  enslave  Indians.  A little  later 
occurred  in  Portugal  an  attempt  against  the  life  of  the 
King:  the  Jesuits  were,  quite  unjustly,  accused  of 
being  concerned  in  it,  and  on  this  pretext  they  were 
ordered  expelled  in  a body  from  Portugal  and  from  all 
Portuguese  possessions.  This  was  in  1759,  expulsion 
from  Brazil  taking  place  during  1760;  not  content  with 
this,  the  abolition  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  was  obtained 
from  Pope  Clement  XIV  in  1773.  This  severe  measure 
was  rescinded  in  1814,  and  the  Jesuits  came  back  to 
Brazil  as  to  other  world  dominions,  doing  excellent 
educational  work  at  the  present  time;  their  colleges 
are  magnificent  institutions,  and  it  is  commonly  said 
in  Brazil  that  the  very  best  education  for  men  is  ob- 
tained in  the  Jesuit  college  at  Itu,  in  the  interior  of  Sao 
Paulo  State. 

Jose  I died  in  1 777,  and  Pombal  promptly  descended 
from  power;  but  his  work  in  the  stimulation  of  Bra- 
zilian industries,  the  creation  of  a genuine  Brazilian 
entity  through  strong  centralization,  and  the  erection 
of  Rio  into  a viceroyalty,  paved  the  way  for  the  next 
great  change. 

Early  in  the  nineteenth  century,  when  the  North 
American  colonies  of  Great  Britain  had  successfully 
revolted,  and  the  French  Revolution  was  an  accom- 
plished fact,  ideas  of  republican  independence  began 
to  agitate  many  heads  in  South  America.  Brazil  had 
only  one  uprising,  the  famous  Conspiracy  of  Minas, 
which  got  no  farther  than  plans;  it  was  headed  by  one 
of  the  influential  Freire  de  Andrade  family,  and  all  the 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


5° 

plotters  were  eventually  pardoned  except  one  scape- 
goat, who  was  executed  publicly  in  Rio  in  1792,  and 
thus  achieved  immortality:  his  nickname  of  Tiradentes 
is  preserved  in  the  name  of  a square  in  Rio  and  a public 
holiday  on  the  anniversary  of  his  death. 

A few  years  later  Napoleon  was  overrunning  Europe. 
Portugal,  friendly  to  his  enemy  England,  incurred  the 
Napoleonic  wrath,  tried  to  make  terms  too  iate,  and  was 
being  actually  invaded  by  the  French  when  an  English 
naval  squadron  appeared  in  the  Tagus  commanded  by 
Sir  Sidney  Smith;  the  Portuguese  royal  family  and  a 
host  of  courtiers  went  aboard  Portuguese  vessels  and 
were  convoyed  across  the  Atlantic,  out  of  Napoleon’s 
reach,  to  Brazil.  It  would  not  at  all  have  suited  Eng- 
land for  the  Braganzas  to  fall  into  hands  which  already 
held  too  many  royal  prisoners.  It  was  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  transferences  of  a crown  in  history,  this 
emigration  of  Dom  Joao  to  his  American  colonies;  it 
was  a useful  and  a dignified  refuge  for  him  and  at  the 
same  time  was  of  great  value  to  Brazil,  probably  sav- 
ing her  from  years  of  disorder  and  bloodshed. 

The  royal  party  arrived  first  at  Bahia,  where  the 
town  turned  out  in  enthusiastic  welcome  and  invited 
Dom  Joao  to  make  this  city  his  seat  of  government; 
but  his  destination  was  Rio,  and  he  sailed  on,  first  giv- 
ing out  a proclamation  which  ensured  him  a good  recep- 
tion in  the  Capital — the  Abertura  dos  Portos,  or  open- 
ing of  the  ports  of  Brazil  freely  to  the  ships  of  all  the 
world  “friendly  to  Portugal.”  Public  printing  presses 
were  now  permitted,  a newspaper  was  started,  chiefly 
engaged  in  training  the  minds  of  the  nascidos  no  Brasil 
(Brazilian-born)  to  appreciation  of  the  monarchical 
presence,  but  still  the  commencement  of  Brazilian 


Two  Views  of  the  Avenida  Rio  Branco,  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

The  beautiful  Avenida,  over  a mile  long,  was  driven  through  the  city  from  the 
docks  to  the  Avenida  Beira  Mar  as  part  of  the  extensive  city  improvements 
costing  over  £20,000,000  begun  in  March,  1904;  the  avenue  was  completed 
>n  November,  1905.  Rio  has  1,250,000  population. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


5i 

journalism;  foreign  capital  began  to  come,  and  active 
Europeans,  attracted  by  the  advertisement  that  the 
transference  of  the  monarchy  gave  Brazil,  entered  and 
established  businesses;  the  Banco  do  Brasil  was  in- 
augurated; fine  buildings  were  erected  in  Rio;  the 
Regent’s  collection  of  pictures  and  books,  brought  with 
him,  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  excellent  museum  and 
library  of  modern  Rio;  the  harbour  was  improved,  a 
School  of  Art  and  Naval  College  founded.  By  the  time 
that  Portugal  was  free  from  the  Napoleonic  shadow, 
and,  in  1821,  called  Dom  Joao  home  again,  he  left 
behind  a Brazil  to  which  a tremendous  impetus  had 
been  given,  and  which  had  been  raised  to  the  dignity 
of  a kingdom  equal  in  importance  with  Portugal  and 
Algarves  six  years  earlier.  North  and  south  of  Brazil 
the  newly  freed  Spanish-American  countries  were  deep 
in  troubles  born  of  a sudden  injection  into  independence 
of  unaccustomed  populations.  Brazil  herself  could 
scarcely  have  avoided  being  drawn  into  the  vortex  had 
her  citizens  still  to  complain  of  the  narrow  policies  and 
repressive  measures  of  the  colonial  system;  they  had 
become  too  proud  and  too  strong  for  development  to 
be  longer  retarded,  and  the  European  turn  of  fortune 
came  in  the  nick  of  time.  It  was  lucky  that  Dom  Joao 
was  a man  of  shrewd  good  sense.  Dom  Pedro,  son  of 
Dom  Joao,  remained  in  Brazil  as  Regent,  and  the 
country  was  still  linked  to  Portugal;  it  was  soon  ap- 
parent that  this  condition  could  not  endure.  The 
jealous  legislature  in  Lisbon  wished  to  reduce  Brazil 
again  to  the  level  of  a colony  under  tutelage,  despite 
the  efforts  of  Dom  Joao;  the  news  came  to  Rio  together 
with  a peremptory  order  for  the  return  of  the  prince, 
and  he,  a good  diplomat,  elected  to  throw  his  lot  in 


52 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


with  Brazil,  and  declared  the  Independence  on  the  his- 
toric hillside  of  Ypiranga,  in  1822. 1 

Proclaimed  Emperor  soon  afterwards,  Pedro  ruled 
for  nine  years  and  then  abdicated  in  favour  of  his  five- 
year-old  child,  Dom  Pedro  segundo.  To  this  rather 
stormy  period  of  control  is  due  the  commencement  of 
deliberate  colonization  of  Europeans  into  Brazil;  it  was  a 
policy  widely  continued  later  on  by  Pedro  II,  and  after- 
wards adopted  both  by  the  Federal  Government  and  by 
separate  States  of  the  Union.  A regency  lasted  until 
Pedro  was  fourteen  years  old,  the  most  remarkable 
hand  on  the  reins  of  power  meanwhile  being  that  of  the 
astute  priest,  Father  Diogo  Feijo. 

Pedro  II  endeared  himself  to  Brazil  by  his  kindly  and 
tactful  spirit,  his  genial  broadmindedness;  he  was  a 
scholar  by  instinct,  and  did  his  best  to  advance  Brazil 
by  the  encouragement  of  railroad  building,  invitation  to 
foreign  capital,  and  the  throwing  open  of  wide  spaces  of 
southern  land  to  good  class  immigrants.  It  was  during 
his  reign  that  the  English,  who  had  established  them- 
selves firmly  during  the  first  monarchical  periods,  send- 
ing ships  regularly  and  opening  markets  for  Brazilian 
products,  were  followed  by  the  commercial  French  and 
later  by  the  German  merchant.  The  industrial  and 
educational  advance  of  Brazil  is  largely  owing  to  the 
personal  initiative  of  Dom  Pedro  II.  His  reign  was 
one  of  the  longest  in  history,  from  1831  to  1889,  and  the 
development  within  this  period  includes  inauguration 
of  city  tramways  as  well  as  railroads;  the  discovery  that 
coffee  would  grow  in  Brazil  and  its  systematic  cultiva- 

1 Portugal  swallowed  her  loss  without  much  protest,  there  was  no  serious 
excitement  in  Brazil,  and  the  Portuguese  troops  stationed  in  Brazil  were 
shipped  home  without  violence  from  more  than  one  district. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


S3 

tion;  discovery  of  the  properties  of  rubber;  the  introduc- 
tion of  factories;  use  of  hydraulic  power. 

Following  the  world  agitation  against  slavery,  Brazil 
in  1854  forbade  the  introduction  of  negroes;  there  were 
however  still  large  numbers  of  these  people  in  bondage 
as  well  as  a much  larger  number  free. 

Public  feeling  was  much  excited  about  the  question 
in  the  eighties,  and  at  last  in  1888,  when  Dom  Pedro 
during  a period  of  illness  had  made  his  daughter,  the 
Princess  Isabel,  Regent,  the  powerful  influence  of  many 
highminded  Brazilians  was  brought  to  bear,  and  the 
decree  of  abolition  was  signed. 

Slave  holders  were  not  so  pleased  as  statesmen,  when 
their  farm  workers  immediately  forsook  the  field  and 
flocked  into  the  cities;  agriculture  undoubtedly  suffered, 
and  to  the  discontent  of  the  planters  is  credited  the 
agitation  that  now  gathered  head  against  the  continua- 
tion of  the  monarchical  system.  The  truth  seems  rather 
to  be  that  the  Empire  had  outlived  its  usefulness, 
and  surrounded  by  republics  could  not  survive.  There 
was  also  a general  fear  lest  Isabel,  said  to  be  priest- 
dominated,  should  be  permanently  appointed  Regent, 
and  this  idea  hastened  the  day  that  would  otherwise 
have  been  postponed,  in  all  probability,  until  the  death 
of  the  good  and  highly  revered  Dom  Pedro.  A growing 
band  of  republicans,  some  of  the  foremost  men  in 
Brazilian  affairs  today,  found  themselves  strong  enough 
to  proclaim  the  end  of  the  Empire;  Dom  Pedro  was 
informed  and  asked  to  leave  the  country  within  twenty- 
four  hours,  and  did  so;  the  Republic  in  Brazil  dates  from 
November  15,  1889. 

The  first  years  of  the  new  regime  were  darkened  by 
disorders,  the  worst  being  the  revolt,  long-drawn-out, 


54 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


in  Rio  Grande  do  Sul.  Two  military  presidents  were 
succeeded  by  four  civilians,  and  these  in  turn  by  a 
third  militarist,  and  notably  extravagant,  presidency 
from  1910  to  1914.  The  present  President,  a lawyer, 
Dr.  Wenceslao  Braz  Pereira  Gomez,  is  making  heroic 
efforts  to  redeem  the  financial  condition  of  the  country, 
and  is  fortunate  in  being  aided  by  a group  of  exceed- 
ingly able  men.  The  country  became  deeply  involved 
during  the  last  twenty-five  years;  if  she  were  an  old 
land  the  burden  would  be  severe:  her  strength  lies  in 
her  youth,  internal  vigour,  and  unsurpassed  abundance 
of  untapped  resources. 

The  tremendous  money  spending  of  Republican 
times  has  been  sharply  censured  since  the  outbreak  of 
war  in  Europe  suddenly  pulled  up  the  country  to  a 
realization  of  her  debts;  it  is  probably  fortunate  that 
she  was  just  too  late  to  arrange  yet  another,  for  which 
negotiations  were  opened  in  1914.  But  while  it  is  true 
that  literally  tons  of  money  were  borrowed  and  spent 
after  1889,  it  is  also  from  that  date  that  the  great  leap 
forward  of  the  country  is  reckoned;  her  extravagance 
was  a wide  advertisement — the  attention  of  the  world 
was  called  to  this  spoilt  child  of  the  nations  as  no 
modest  jogging  along  the  beaten  track  would  have  done. 
Bankers,  commercial  firms,  writers,  settlers  came  to 
Brazil;  there  was  a feverish  expansion  in  railroad  build- 
ing, and  from  this  period  dates  the  inauguration  of  good 
modern  port  works  in  Rio,  Bahia,  Para,  Pernambuco, 
Santos,  Victoria,  and  many  other  points  of  call  for 
ocean-going  vessels;  water-works  and  town  drainage, 
the  better  paving  of  a score  of  cities,  extinction  of  yellow 
fever  and  other  tropical  pests,  were  all  accomplished 
with  money  borrowed  in  the  hey-day  of  Brazil. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BRAZIL 


55 


The  check  in  facile  borrowing  of  very  large  sums  on 
easy  terms  has  undoubtedly  acted  as  a cold  shower 
upon  South  America  in  general,  somewhat  accustomed 
to  financial  sunshine;  the  result  has  been  salutary  in 
awakening  the  people  all  over  the  continent  to  the 
need  for  unprecedented  personal  effort.  It  has,  too, 
brought  about  a new  sense  of  North  American  rela- 
tions, created  and  needed,  with  South  America.  The 
European  War  has  turned  the  United  States  from  the 
position  of  a debtor  to  that  of  a creditor  country,  and 
while  up  to  the  end  of  1922  her  loans  to  the  whole  of 
South  America  have  not  exceeded  two  hundred  million 
dollars,  chiefly  short-time  State  borrowings,  caution  is, 
mutually  beneficial.  There  is,  however,  much  work 
to  be  done  which  calls  urgently  for  gold  supplies,  and 
it  is  but  logical  that  the  country  accumulating  money 
rapidly  should  be  willing  to  take  up  a due  share  of  the 
development  work  waiting;  European  interests  need 
not  and  should  not  be  ousted,  but  can  be  readily  and 
happily  supplemented. 

The  United  States  of  Brazil  today  contain  over 
24,000,000  people,  still  largely  concentrated  upon  the 
sea  coast,  in  a score  of  thriving  cities.  She  is  at  peace 
with  her  neighbours,  with  no  shadow  upon  her  political 
horizon;  her  only  great  problem  is  the  industrial, 
financial  one,  and  this,  with  the  concentrated  effort  of 
Brazilians  and  the  right  kind  of  external  help,  can  be 
solved.  The  entry  of  Brazil  into  the  War  upon  the  side 
of  the  Allies,  after  the  torpedoing  of  the  Brazilian 
vessels  and  the  declaration  of  war  by  the  United  States 
against  Germany,  brought  about  a new  international 
comradeship,  and  has  awakened  the  world  to  a better 
understanding  of  the  spirit  and  power  of  the  country. 


CHAPTER  II 


COLONIZATION  IN  BRAZIL 

The  story  of  colonization  in  Brazil  is  unique  in  the 
annals  of  the  human  movement  across  the  world  that 
has  been  going  on  ever  since  man  began  to  multiply  and 
to  seek  elbow-room;  it  is  one  of  the  phenomena  of 
exodus. 

Arrival  upon  the  shores  of  Brazil  of  an  extraordinary 
variety  of  races  was  not  a voluntary  immigration  in 
most  instances.  It  was  the  result  of  a studied  policy, 
inaugurated  by  the  Emperors  of  Brazil,  and  carried  on 
to  the  present  day  by  the  Federal  Government  and  cer- 
tain of  the  separate  States;  experiments  in  various  kinds 
of  people  were  made  on  a concerted  plan,  the  colonies 
were  grouped,  in  many  cases  isolated,  retained  their 
language  and  customs,  still  produce  the  food  to  which 
they  were  accustomed  in  the  home  land,  and  only  be- 
come assimilated  as  their  populations  leave  them  or 
touch  in  time  the  fringe  of  others.  The  official  mother- 
ing which  they  received  tended  rather  to  keep  them 
grouped  than  to  spread  them  in  the  earlier  years. 

The  first  official,  deliberate  importation  of  colonists  of 
blood  foreign  to  Brazil  or  Portugal  began  in  1817,  when 
Dom  Joao  brought  in  Swiss  settlers.  Agents  of  the 
Brazilian  Government  recruited  no  less  than  five  thou- 
sand in  Bern,  although  owing  to  delays  and  accidents 
only  about  two  thousand  sailed  from  Amsterdam  and 
Rotterdam:  landing  on  a hot  coastal  belt  after  a trying 
voyage,  fever  took  the  mountaineers,  and  but  a sparse 


COLONIZATION  IN  BRAZIL 


57 


seventeen  hundred  reached  the  foot  of  the  Serra  do 
Mar.  Climbing  to  the  pretty  nook  where  the  town  of 
their  founding,  Nova  Friburgo,  stands  today  in  a shelter 
of  green  mountains,  sickness  still  followed  them,  and 
only  the  hardiest  or  most  resistant  clung  to  the  colony, 
survived  and  left  their  name  to  another  generation. 
Many  dispersed  to  other  localities.  Nova  Friburgo, 
now  reached  by  the  Leopoldina  railway,  and  a thriving 
city,  fresh,  flowery,  producer  of  cereals  and  peaches, 
owns  few  Swiss  inhabitants  today.  A second  batch  of 
immigrants,  three  hundred  and  forty-two  Germans, 
filled  some  gaps  in  the  ranks:  their  readiness  for  labour 
may  have  been  heightened  by  memories  of  the  difficul- 
ties of  transit  to  Europe,  for  the  journey  had  taken  one 
hundred  and  eighty  days  in  a sailing  ship.  Germany  at 
this  period  had  not  begun  the  industrial  expansion 
which  later  kept  all  her  people  at  home;  economic  condi- 
tions were  severe  on  the  ambitious  worker,  laws  and 
social  customs  were  irksome,  and  enterprising  men 
looked  across  the  seas  for  free  lands.  Germany  became 
for  about  twenty-five  years  the  very  best  recruiting 
ground  for  Brazil. 

The  second  official  colony  was  founded  in  Rio  Grande 
do  Sul,  and  consisted  entirely  of  Germans — one  hundred 
and  twenty-six  persons  originally — who  came  in  1825. 
The  colony  was  named  Sao  Leopoldo,  used  the  water 
highway  of  the  Rio  dos  Sinos  until  a railway  line  was 
built  connecting  it  with  Porto  Alegre  and  with  new 
colonies  to  the  north,  and  has  developed  into  one  of  the 
chief  towns  of  the  state,  with  forty  thousand  inhabit- 
ants. Its  establishment  was  followed  rapidly  by  that 
of  Tres  Forquilhas  and  S.  Pedro  de  Alcantara,  both  in 
Rio  Grande  and  both  German,  1826;  by  another  S. 


58 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


Pedro  de  Alcantara,  also  German,  in  Santa  Catharina, 
1826;  Rio  Negro,  in  Parana,  1828,  formed  by  disbanded 
German  soldiers.  Petropolis,  the  model  city  in  the 
hills  above  Rio,  owed  its  inception  to  Dom  Pedro  and 
was  founded  with  Germans  and  Swiss,  but  not  until 
1848,  for  more  than  ten  years  of  civil  war  down  south 
in  Rio  Grande,  when  the  “Republica  de  Piritinim” 
was  proclaimed,  checked  colonizing  projects  in  the 
Empire.  With  the  suppression  of  trouble  German 
colonizing  was  resumed  in  the  south,  Santa  Catharina 
creating  the  Santa  Isabel  colony  in  1845,  while  Rio 
Grande  started  five  new  centres  between  1849  and 
1850.  The  latter  year  is  also  memorable  for  the  founda- 
tion of  Blumenau,  in  Santa  Catharina,  by  the  good  Herr 
Blumenau  of  Brunswick.  At  the  same  point  on  the 
lovely  river  Itajahy  a little  nucleus  had  existed  pre- 
cariously since  1827,  added  to  by  a group  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-two  Belgians  in  1844;  Herr  Blumenau 
brought  in  Germans  gradually  at  his  own  expense, 
supervising  the  colony  in  the  role  of  a kind  of  paternal 
burgomaster,  and  in  1864  was  able  to  count  two  thou- 
sand five  hundred  people;  his  efforts  had,  however,  cost 
him  about  twelve  thousand  dollars.  The  Brazilian 
Government  repaid  him  his  outlay  and  made  him 
official  Director.  Today  Blumenau,  once  a small  self- 
contained  nucleo,  is  a bustling  city  with  fifty  thousand 
people,  a lively  exporting  business  and  a railroad  line. 
In  1850  the  Dona  Thereza  colony  in  Parana  was  started, 
while  the  famous  Joinville,  first  called  Dona  Francesca, 
began  in  1851  in  Santa  Catharina;  it  owed  its  existence 
to  the  fact  that  an  Orleans  scion,  the  Prince  de  Joinville, 
married  a Brazilian  princess  who  inherited  large  estates 
chiefly  consisting  of  matto  in  Santa  Catharina.  The 


COLONIZATION  IN  BRAZIL 


59 


family  ceded  twelve  square  leagues  of  this  land  to  the 
“Colonizing  Union”  of  Hamburg,  whence  settlers  were 
promptly  sent,  both  the  Prince  and  the  Brazilian  Gov- 
ernment making  a protege  of  the  nucleo.  The  large 
sums  of  money  spent  resulted  in  a fine  town,  now  num- 
bering some  twenty-five  thousand  people,  served  by  the 
Brazil  Railways.  A little  later  (1852)  the  Minas  Geraes 
colony  of  Mucury  was  founded,  but  by  this  time  Ger- 
man colonizing  in  arranged  shipments  had  come  to  an 
end;  any  additional  German  colonists  came  singly.  The 
German  Government,  both  alarmed  at  the  losses  in 
blood — for  emigration  to  North  America  and  other 
parts  of  South  America  was  also  proceeding,  although 
along  different  lines — and  by  reports  sent  home  as  the 
result  of  investigation  which  gave  a poor  account  of 
the  condition  of  the  isolated  nucleos,  passed  a law  to 
forbid  emigration  to  Brazil.  Dom  Pedro  had  to  turn 
his  attention  to  other  countries. 

Before  the  coming  of  the  Germans,  South  Brazil  was 
almost  totally  neglected;  demand  for  tropical  produce 
such  as  sugar  and  tobacco  had  kept  the  attention  of 
Portuguese  and  their  mixed-blood  descendants  for  over 
three  centuries  to  North  Brazil,  where  negro  slaves 
multiplied  on  the  warm  coast;  the  grassy  uplands  of 
the  south  attracted  few  Brazilians,  and  these  chiefly 
bandeirantes  whose  main  business  was  to  keep  out 
Spaniards  from  the  Plate,  and  whose  wild  cattle  strayed 
and  bred  on  the  natural  pastures.  So  wild  and  un- 
tenanted was  the  country  that  up  to  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century  the  German  colonists  had  trouble 
with  Indian  raiders.  But  it  was  the  right  climate  for 
the  north-born  Europeans,  a wise  choice  that  proved  a 
success  while  other  settlements  dwindled  out.  During 


6o 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


the  same  period  there  were  several  attempts  to  colonize 
Espirito  Santo,  notably  at  Santa  Isabel,  and  Cachoeiras 
and  Transylvania,  six  or  seven  starting  between  1847 
and  1856.  The  energy  of  the  settlers  was  discounted 
by  the  hot  climate,  and  many  moved  south,  where  the 
great  increase  in  settlers’  populations  is  a fair  criterion 
of  their  success.  The  official  figures  of  German  entries 
into  Brazil  from  1820  to  the  end  of  1915  are  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-two  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
thirty,  but  the  people  of  German  blood  in  Brazil  are 
now  reckoned  at  about  250,000.  The  southerly 
towns  under  their  influence  are  clean,  well-kept,  live 
centres,  with  constantly  expanding  industries.  Rio 
Grande  today  is  quite  one  of  the  best  sections  of  Brazil: 
the  influx  of  Italians  brings  them  more  than  equal  in 
numbers  to  the  German  element,  taking  the  state  as 
a whole. 

With  organized  German  settlement  checked,  Brazil 
during  the  eighteen  fifties  turned  her  attention  to  the 
mother  country,  and  brought  in  Portuguese;  they  were 
settled  in  the  warmer  latitudes.  In  1853,  such  a colony 
was  begun  in  Maranhao,  at  Santa  Isabel,  followed  by 
five  more  in  the  same  northern  and  sultry  state  in  1855; 
in  the  same  year  three  Portuguese  colonies  were  estab- 
lished in  Para,  at  Nossa  Senhora  d’O,  at  Peganha  and 
at  Silva,  while  Rio  de  Janeiro  was  planted  with  another 
five.  A little  later  Bahia  was  given  Portuguese  colonies 
at  Sinimbu,  Engenho  Novo  and  Rio  Pardo.  These 
and  others  were  not  strikingly  successful  until  or  unless 
joined  by  other  colonists,  for  the  Portuguese,  who  are 
artisans  rather  than  agriculturists,  melted  from  the 
lonely  settlements  and  found  jobs  in  the  coast  cities. 


COLONIZATION  IN  BRAZIL 


61 


By  this  time  coffee  culture  was  coming  into  favour, 
the  slave  business  was  doomed,  although  the  actual 
abolition  of  slavery  did  not  occur  until  1888,  and  plant- 
ers invited  immigrants  to  their  developing  estates.  The 
work  of  obtaining  immigrants  was  undertaken  by  in- 
dividuals, as  the  Vergueiro  family  by  Theophilo  Ottoni 
and  the  Visconde  de  Baependy,  with  varying  success, 
as  well  as  by  the  International  Society  of  Immigration 
of  Rio,  with  headquarters  in  Antwerp.  Colonists  sent 
to  coffee  estates  worked  on  the  metayer  or  parceria  sys- 
tem, inherently  vicious.  The  colonist  had  the  satisfac- 
tion of  considering  himself  an  independent  worker,  but 
as  he  started  with  a large  debt,  never  owned  land  and 
earned  no  wages,  his  lot  was  a poor  one  if  crops  failed  or 
the  fazendeiro  chanced  to  be  unfair.  He  arrived  owing 
for  the  passage  of  himself  and  family,  and  was  given  a 
house  and  a quantity  of  food — of  the  country;  he  cul- 
tivated a certain  number  of  coffee  trees,  or  allotment 
of  sugarcane,  took  the  harvest  to  the  owner’s  mill  and 
received  half  the  result  after  milling.  It  is  said  by  J.  L. 
More,  in  his  book  Le  Bresil  en  1852 , that  the  hard- 
working Bavarians  and  Holsteiners  who  worked  on  this 
system  in  Sao  Paulo  often  paid  off  their  debts  in  four 
years  and  then  had  money  in  hand;  but  other  investiga- 
tors spoke  adversely  on  the  subject,  finding  colonists 
of  ten  and  twelve  years’  standing  still  indebted  and 
living  hopelessly.  In  the  end  the  parceria  gave  way 
before  a general  wages  system.  The  metayer  plan  still 
exists  in  some  parts  of  Minas,  Espirito  Santo,  Sao  Paulo 
and  other  coffee  regions,  and  can  be  found  in  the  sugar 
districts  and  in  the  cacao  region  of  Bahia,  but  large 
ownership  of  great  scientifically-run  estates  has  driven 
it  from  general  employment.  Investigations  made  by 


62 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


J.  von  Tschudi,  sent  by  the  Swiss  Government  in  1857, 
and  by  the  German  Consul  Haupt  ten  years  later, 
proved  the  failure  of  the  share  system;  colonists  could 
be  seized  and  imprisoned  if  they  tried  to  leave  the  es- 
tate on  which  they  worked,  and,  unable  to  support 
life  on  the  produce  of  their  allotments,  would  have  been 
even  worse  off  had  it  not  been  for  the  “many  acts  of 
benevolence  for  which  the  emigrants  had  to  thank  the 
kindness  natural  to  so  many  Brazilians,”  says  the 
author  of  Brazilian  Colonization,  a little  brochure  pub- 
lished under  a pseudonym  in  London  in  the  year 

1873. 

The  same  writer,  giving  a list  of  nationalities  com- 
prising the  immigration  into  Brazilian  states  up  to  that 
time,  nearly  thirty-five  years  ago,  before  the  great  entry 
of  the  Italians  had  begun,  or  that  of  the  Poles  and 
Russians  with  their  gift  of  hardy  persistence,  names  a 
French  colony  taken  to  the  banks  of  the  Ivahy  river 
in  Parana  about  1850,  which  expired  for  want  of  trans- 
portation and  therefore  of  markets;  this,  with  the 
influx  of  Algerian  French  in  1868-1869  to  a spot  near 
Curityba,  also  in  Parana,  is  the  most  important  attempt 
of  the  Gallic  race  to  found  settlements  in  Brazil;  the 
disturbances  of  the  latter,  the  first  vine-growers  of  the 
state,  gave  the  authorities  as  much  trouble  as  the  subse- 
quent adventures  of  the  Russians  ten  years  later  in  the 
same  region. 

“ Jacare  Assu”  also  mentions  a few  Alsatians  in  Nova 
Petropolis  (Rio  Grande);  the  Dutch  families  in  Join- 
ville,  Rio  Novo,  Petropolis,  and  Leopoldina  (Espirito 
Santo);  the  Tyrolian  wanderers;  the  Danes  of  Estrella; 
the  Mongolians — five  hundred  and  sixty-six  of  them, 
who  came  by  contract  in  1856;  and  the  colony  of  Ice- 


COLONIZATION  IN  BRAZIL 


63 


landers  who  went  to  Joinville,  and  were  “said  to  be 
doing  very  well.”  He  also  speaks  of  the  “colonies  of 
Brazilians”  in  Brazil,  who  were  settled  in  Estrella,  at 
Sinimbu,  Iguape  and  Itajahy;  and  the  North  American 
influx  of  1867.  This  later  item  was  the  result  neither  of 
population  overflow  nor  invitation,  but  was  the  result  of 
the  struggle  between  the  North  and  South  of  the  United 
States,  the  disappointed  slave-owning  southerners  seek- 
ing a land  where  their  losses  could  be  forgotten.  The 
exodus,  of  course,  was  in  several  directions:  groups  went 
into  Mexico,  some  to  Canada,  to  different  parts  of 
South  America;  I have  seen  an  excellent  colony  of  these 
migrants  and  their  descendants  at  Toledo  in  the  south 
of  British  Honduras,  growing  sugarcane  and  prospering. 
Those  who  came  to  Brazil  were  brought  from  the  port 
of  New  York  by  the  “United  States  and  Brazil  Mail 
Ships,”  since  defunct,  the  first  batch  of  two  hundred 
leaving  in  December,  1866.  They  were  followed  by 
some  thousands,  but  today  it  is  difficult  to  trace  them, 
the  groups  into  which  they  were  originally  assembled 
having  long  since  broken  up. 

Seeking  these  settlements,  I visited  Villa  Americana 
in  Sao  Paulo  state  but  found  it  long  since  turned  into  a 
villa  Italiana,  with  only  one  family  of  American  origin 
which  seemed  to  have  thriven;  forty  miles  or  so  across 
country,  at  Piracicaba,  however,  I found  an  American 
school,  admirably  conducted  by  a little  old  lady  who 
told  me  that  she  had  come  with  the  original  settlers  of 
Santa  Barbara,  founded  in  the  parish  of  Piracicaba,  but 
now  a shadow.  Her  school  was  a delightful  one,  with 
the  stocky  girl  pupils  going  through  gymnastic  exer- 
cises in  unwonted  rational  clothes,  but  they  were 
all  Brazilians;  the  Americans  had  melted,  the  ones 


64  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

who  remained  not  being  able  to  keep  up  in  the 
struggle. 

There  seem  to  have  been  at  least  four  definite  at- 
tempts at  settlement  besides  individual  selection  of 
dwelling  places:  these  were  at  Santarem,  on  the  Ama- 
zon’s junction  with  the  Tapajoz  river;  Cannavieiras,  on 
the  coast  of  southern  Bahia;  Juquia,  or  Cananea,  below 
Iguape  in  southern  Sao  Paulo;  and  the  Santa  Barbara- 
Villa  Americana  group  in  central  Sao  Paulo.  Some  of 
the  immigrants  had  money,  but  in  many  cases  the  war 
had  swallowed  it;  former  owners  of  slaves,  they  were 
often  less  fitted  to  make  a living  from  the  soil  than  the 
negroes  they  had  left  behind.  The  one  crop  that  they 
understood  thoroughly  was  cotton,  and  it  seems  to  have 
been  tried  at  each  of  the  four  spots  named,  but  in  at 
least  two  regions  success  was  nullified  by  climate.  In 
Sao  Paulo’s  interior  lands  a fair  measure  of  reward  was 
obtained  and  an  impulse  to  cotton  growing  dates  from 
this  time.  The  Cananea  colony,  where  some  English 
were  introduced  about  the  same  time,  was  a notable 
scene  of  discontent;  both  groups  of  colonists  hurried 
back  to  Rio  and  made  so  many  complaints  that  the 
consuls  went  through  sieges.  The  fact  was  that  the 
site  for  the  settlement  was  unsuited  to  Anglo-Saxon 
modes  of  life  and  that  insufficient  preparation  had  been 
made:  a few  years  ago  a colony  of  Japanese  was  given 
land  a few  miles  from  the  ill-fated  spot,  at  Iguape,  and, 
settling  down  to  grow  rice,  have  made  a striking  success. 
But  the  points  of  view  of  the  two  nationalities,  as  well  as 
colonization  methods  pursued  by  the  organizers  in  the 
different  cases,  had  nothing  in  common.  At  Can- 
navieiras there  is  today  a thriving  series  of  cacao  planta- 
tions and  a Brazilian  population:  these  people  keep  in 


COLONIZATION  IN  BRAZIL 


65 

order,  carefully  weeded,  a grave.  There  is  a fence  of 
hard  Brazilian  massaranduba  about  it,  perennial  flowers 
blossom  above;  under  the  soil  lie  the  three  little  children 
of  the  leader  of  the  American  colony,  and  of  it  there  is 
no  other  trace. 

Of  the  Santa  Barbara  colony  there  is  a story  told 
which  is  comedy  instead  of  tragedy.  The  colonists 
grew,  besides  cotton,  watermelons:  one  year  just  as  the 
crop  ripened,  cholera  broke  out  in  S.  Paulo,  the  sale  of 
melons  was  forbidden,  and  the  growers  faced  ruin.  At 
this  time  President  Cleveland  had  come  into  office  in 
the  United  States,  and  had  just  appointed  a new  consul 
at  Santos:  he  must,  then,  be  a good  Democrat.  The 
settlers,  who  on  landing  in  Brazil  had  ceremonially  torn 
up  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  offered 
thanks  to  heaven  for  having  permitted  them  to  reach  a 
land  where  the  sacred  Biblical  institution  of  slavery  was 
still  in  force,  remembered  that  they  were  American 
citizens.  They  wrote  to  the  consul  a letter  of  congratu- 
lation on  his  arrival  and  at  the  same  time  detailed  their 
grievances  with  regard  to  watermelon  sales.  The  consul 
replied  cordially,  suggested  that  he  should  visit  them, 
and  received  post  haste  a warm  welcome.  The  after- 
noon of  his  arrival  at  the  colony  found  the  entire  popu- 
lation drawn  up  on  the  platform,  a southern  Colonel  at 
the  head  of  the  deputation.  The  train  rolls  up,  a first- 
class  compartment  door  opens,  a gentleman  steps  out 
with  a suitcase,  and  walks  up  to  the  Colonel  with  out- 
stretched hand.  It  was  the  consul — but  a consul  as 
black  as  the  ace  of  spades. 

It  is  said  that  the  Colonel,  rising  nobly  to  the  occa- 
sion, gasped  once,  shook  the  hand  of  the  consul,  and 
that  he  and  the  other  southerners  gave  the  official  the 


66 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


time  of  his  life;  but  when  he  departed  they  vowed  that 
never,  never  again  would  they  trust  a Democratic 
administration.  . . . 

There  are  a few  descendants  of  this  group  who  have 
attained  true  distinction  in  Brazil  and  genuinely  work 
for  the  land  of  their  adoption. 

It  was  after  the  dwindling  of  the  flow  of  German  in- 
comers about  i860  that  a steady  stream  of  Italians  was 
directed  towards  Brazil.  Their  wooing  was  in  a great 
measure  due  to  the  systematized  efforts  of  the  coffee- 
growers  of  S.  Paulo  state,  and,  after  the  establishment 
of  the  republic  in  1889,  of  the  state  authorities.  Work- 
ers from  North  Italy  were  found  to  be  those  who  best 
suited  the  needs  of  conditions  of  the  coffee  industry,  and 
to  this  part  of  Europe  were  directed  the  attentions  of  re- 
cruiting agents.  Laborious,  serious,  economical,  bent 
upon  acquiring  a little  fortune,  the  Italians  came  with 
their  wives  and  families,  accepted  their  position  as  colo- 
nos  upon  the  great  estates,  never  very  ardently  attached 
to  one  particular  piece  of  soil,  and  ready  to  pick  up  and 
move  on  wherever  advantageous  conditions  beckoned. 

‘ From  the  year  1820  to  the  end  of  1919,  a total  of  one 
million,  three  hundred  and  seventy-eight  thousand, 
eight  hundred  and  seventy-six  Italians  have  officially  en- 
tered Brazil  as  immigrants.  With  their  children  born  in 
Brazil  they  total  well  over  two  millions  today,  greatly 
out-numbering  any  other  entering  race.  Their  coloniza- 
tion has  been  a marked  success,  due  not  only  to  their 
personal  characteristics,  but  to  the  just  treatment 
given  them  by  the  authorities.  There  was  a time,  soon 
after  the  abolition  of  slavery,  when  the  colonos  brought 
in  to  fill  labour  gaps  complained  of  the  relations  between 


Agriculture  in  S.  Paulo  State. 

Cutting  sugar  cane. 
Rice  cultivation. 

Coffee  gathering. 


COLONIZATION  IN  BRAZIL 


67 


themselves  and  the  fazendeiros;  realizing  that  the 
existence  of  friction  and  subsequent  scandals  would 
defeat  their  object,  the  Sao  Paulo  Government  put 
machinery  into  working  order,  known  as  the  Patronato 
Agricola  which  adjusted  differences,  looked  into  social 
conditions,  and  took  in  hand  the  work  of  giving  medical 
care  and  schooling  to  immigrants.  The  Italian  has 
remained  upon  coffee  fazendas,  acquired  land  and 
coffee  trees  of  his  own  or  taken  up  commercial  work 
in  the  towns,  rather  than  remained  in  nucleos;  he  has 
identified  himself  with  the  modern  progress  of  South 
Brazil,  taken  up  manufacturing,  built  himself  some  of 
the  most  splendid  and  extravagant  houses  in  Sao  Paulo 
city,  famed  as  it  is  for  luxurious  dwellings;  the  Avenida 
Paulista,  pride  of  Sao  Paulo,  was  “built  on  coffee,”  and 
much  of  the  wealth  displayed  there  is  Italian  wealth, 
created  during  the  last  twenty-five  years.  The  year  of 
greatest  immigration  in  Brazil  is  said  to  have  been  that 
of  1891  when  out  of  a total  of  nearly  two  hundred  and 
seventy-six  thousand,  about  one  hundred  and  sixteen 
thousand  were  Italians;  their  influence  upon  prosperity 
in  Sao  Paulo  may  be  estimated  by  the  fact  that  more 
than  one  million  out  of  the  State’s  three  million  popula- 
tion are  of  Italian  blood.  No  other  state  has  so  systema- 
tized immigration,  perhaps  because  none  had  the  press- 
ing need  and  the  immediate  rewards  to  offer,  as  has 
Sao  Paulo;  she  no  longer  pays  passages  on  steamships, 
but  she  maintains  free  hotels  in  Santos  and  Sao  Paulo 
city,  where  five  meals  a day  are  given,  good  airy  rooms, 
baths,  etc.,  and  where  immigrants  are  lodged  for  a 
week  or  until  work  is  found. 

Preponderant  as  are  the  numbers  of  Italians,  they 
are  by  no  means  the  only  southern  settlers  of  the  last 


68 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


fifty  years;  Poles  and  Russians  came  in  notable  quan- 
tities in  the  late  1870’s  and  early  1880’s,  settling  in  the 
Parana  uplands  as  well  as  in  nucleos  in  Sao  Paulo.  At 
the  end  of  the  century  there  were  two  thousand  Russo- 
Germans  from  the  Volga,  farming  land  on  methods  of 
their  own  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Curityba;  an  obsti- 
nate folk,  they  insisted  upon  tilling  prairies  like  their 
own  steppes  instead  of  choosing  forestal  land,  shared  all 
goods  on  the  Russian  communistic  plan,  and  gave  the 
Brazilian  authorities  so  much  trouble  that  there  must 
have  been  sighs  of  relief  when  bodies  of  them  deserted 
the  nucleos  and  demanded  to  be  sent  back  to  Russia. 
From  those  who  stayed  has  grown  up  the  tribe  of  Rus- 
sian carters  who  do  the  road-transportation  work  of 
the  high  Parana  plateau;  there  are  groups  of  farmers, 
too,  both  Russians  and  Poles,  who  share  land  in  com- 
mon and  are  raisers  of  wheat,  their  favourite  rye,  and 
other  cereals;  some  have  taken  up  the  business  of 
gathering  and  curing  matte , the  “tea”  which  South 
Brazil  grows  and  exports  to  the  Argentine. 

There  is  one  specially  thriving  Russian  settlement  to 
be  seen  in  Sao  Paulo  state,  at  Nova  Odessa;  the  wooden 
buildings  are  Russian  in  type,  the  tall  churches  are  like 
pictures  from  a traveller’s  Russian  notebook,  and  the 
institution  of  the  samovar  and  the  huge  family  stove  is 
clung  to.  These  people  are  great  lovers  of  land,  and  its 
possession  has  contented  them;  as  yet  there  is  little 
mingling  with  the  social  or  political  life  of  Brazil. 

The  system  under  which  land  is  made  over  to  col- 
onists demands  more  explanation  than  space  permits; 
Sao  Paulo,  briefly,  only  sanctions  the  establishment  of 
nucleos  near  a railway  line  or  navigable  river,  with  an 
eye  to  marketing,  and  has  inserted  colonization  clauses 


COLONIZATION  IN  BRAZIL 


69 


in  more  than  one  railroad  concession  to  help  develop 
these  settlements  along  the  route;  lots  are  never,  orig- 
inally, of  more  than  fifty  hectares,  and  may  be  half  this 
size  if  quite  close  to  rail  or  river;  “urban”  lots  are 
granted  to  settlers  with  money  in  hand  to  start  a busi- 
ness, and  “rural”  lots  to  intending  agriculturists;  no- 
body can  obtain  a lot  unless  he  has  a wife  and  family, 
but  sons  twenty-one  years  old  can  also  obtain  grants 
while  bachelors;  payments  are  made  on  easy  terms, 
generally  at  the  end  of  each  harvest  for  five  successive 
years,  prices  varying  according  to  locality  from  a few 
milreis  to  a couple  of  hundred  per  hectare — roughly 
speaking;  I have  never  heard  of  unfeeling  treatment  in 
cases  where  settlers  are  unable  to  keep  up  payments  in 
bad  years,  but  encountered  many  stories  of  help  given 
by  the  authorities.  When  the  male  head  of  a family 
dies  before  payments  are  complete,  the  widow  and 
family  are  handed  clear  titles  if  three  quarters  of  the 
debt  has  been  liquidated,  and  if  ability  to  continue  work 
is  demonstrated;  if  not,  the  family  is  sent  back  to 
Europe  at  State  expense.  Rebates  of  ten  per  cent  are 
given  to  settlers  able  to  pay  on  taking  up  land. 

Following  this  plan,  it  happens  that  for  several  years 
after  the  foundation  of  a new  centre  the  colony  is  in 
debt,  becoming  emancipado  as  the  obligations  are  paid 
off;  Sao  Paulo  state  is  dotted  with  pleasant  examples  of 
these  “emancipated”  colonies,  today  flourishing  agri- 
cultural regions  well-farmed  by  the  industrious  and 
ambitious  Europeans,  adding  enormously  to  the  pro- 
ductivity of  the  State.  At  the  end  of  1915  the  State 
was  acting  as  god-mother  to  half  a score  of  nucleos,  of 
which  the  most  promising  are  Campos  Salles,  Jorge 
Tibirgia,  Nova  Europa,  Nova  Veneza,  Gaviao  Peixoto, 


70 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


and  the  Martinho  Prado  group.  In  the  same  year,  the 
President’s  message  states,  two  hundred  and  ninety- 
three  colonists  completed  payments  on  their  lots  and 
received  definite  titles  in  place  of  the  provisionary  ones 
first  issued:  over  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  contos  was 
paid  on  lots.  “The  total  population  still  under  State  ad- 
ministration is  13,793  persons,  who  occupy  an  area  of 
54,666  hectares;  of  these  over  14,000  are  in  cultivation, 
yielding  produce  worth  1800  contos  of  reis  last  year,” 
said  Dr.  Altino  Arantes  (July,  1916).  Twenty  thousand 
people  came  into  the  state  in  1915,  of  whom  six  thou- 
sand were  Portuguese,  four  thousand  Spanish  and  four 
thousand  Italian;  this  is  but  twenty  per  cent  of  pre- 
war average  immigration  to  S.  Paulo. 

In  the  course  of  years  very  many  colonies  have  devel- 
oped into  regular  towns,  long  since  “emancipated;”  Sao 
Bernardo,  Sabauna  and  Bom  Successo  are  notable  in- 
stances, while  the  capital  city  itself  has  reached  out  and 
absorbed  nucleo  hangers-on  to  her  spreading  petticoats. 

One  of  the  interesting  recent  experiments  of  Sao  Paulo 
was  the  cession  of  some  twelve  million  acres  of  coastal 
land  to  a Japanese  company  with  the  object  of  creating 
an  agricultural  colony  with  Oriental  brains  and  labour. 
The  organizing  syndicate,  with  the  approval  of  the 
Japanese  Government,  was  formed  in  Tokio  in  1913, 
used  Japanese  capital,  emigrants  and  ships,  and  has 
already  settled  several  thousand  people.  Studied 
preparations  and  soil  experiments  were  made  before 
any  colonists  were  carried  over.  Practical  results  so 
far  have  included  a large  addition  to  Brazil’s  production 
of  rice,  while  the  resurrection  of  the  once  flourishing 
tea  industry  is  also  said  to  be  in  sight.  This  Japanese 
colony  is  notable  for  its  tactful  introduction:  wishing  to 


COLONIZATION  IN  BRAZIL 


7i 


avoid  even  the  chance  of  friction,  the  organizers  stip- 
ulated its  location  in  a spot  which,  able  to  communicate 
by  water  with  markets,  does  not  rub  shoulders  with 
other  centres  of  population.  Iguape  is  reached  either 
by  small  steamers  from  Santos,  or  by  rail  from  Santos 
to  a spot  on  the  river  Iguape  communicating  with  the 
colony  by  riverine  boats,  but  little  is  heard  of  the 
Japanese  settlement  in  Sao  Paulo;  they  live  to  them- 
selves and  their  chief  appearance  is  in  statistical  re- 
ports. Besides  the  members  of  this  agricultural  colony 
there  are  at  least  another  eight  or  ten  thousand  Jap- 
anese in  Brazil,  chiefly  house  servants,  greatly  liked  for 
their  quick,  sophisticated  resource. 

Apart  from  the  serious,  long-continued  work  of  the 
Sao  Paulo  authorities  to  win  labour  from  abroad,  there 
is  still  a remarkable  amount  of  support  given  to  immi- 
gration by  the  Federal  Government;  nucleos  to  the 
number  of  twenty  are  supervised  by  the  authorities, 
seven  of  which  have  been  “emancipated”  while  thirteen 
are  still  paying  for  their  allotments.  The  seven  free 
centres,  Tayo,  Ivahy,  Jesuino  Marcondes,  Itapara, 
Iraty  and  Vera-Guarany,  in  Parana,  and  Affonso  Penna 
in  Espirito  Santo,  contain  nearly  33,000  persons,  the 
remaining  thirteen  counting  19,000  persons:  together 
the  colonies  had  an  agricultural  yield  in  1915  worth 
14,223  contos  of  reis,  and  own  livestock  valued  at 
2,427  contos. 

The  State  of  Minas  Geraes  has  made  repeated  efforts 
to  encourage  immigration  and  spent  large  sums  upon 
propaganda  and  the  establishment  of  nucleos.  She  has 
under  supervision  sixteen  state  colonies,  with  a total 
population  of  26,000  persons,  agricultural  production 
from  the  lands  under  cultivation  amounting  in  191 5 to 


72 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


the  value  of  3,155  contos  of  rels.  There  are  also  within 
the  state  borders  two  Federal  colonies,  one  of  which, 
Joao  Pinheiro,  has  freed  itself  from  indebtedness  and 
is  on  the  way  to  become  an  important  agricultural  and 
stock-raising  centre;  these  two  nucleos  contain  over  two 
thousand  persons. 

In  Rio  Grande  do  Sul  colonization  has  been  seriously 
checked  since  1913,  but  there  are  two  important  centres 
under  State  control  which  call  for  mention:  one  is  the 
Guarany  nucleo,  in  existence  for  a quarter  of  a century 
but  counting  only  25,000  inhabitants  because  it  is  off 
the  line  of  communication  with  state  markets;  its 
position  is  strikingly  contrasted  with  the  Erechim 
colony,  six  years  old,  planted  on  the  Rio  Grande- 
S.  Paulo  railway  line  when  the  latter  was  opened  to 
traffic,  and  which  today  has  over  30,000  population 
grouped  in  six  or  seven  bright  little  villages. 

In  1915,  when  entries  from  abroad  were  checked  on 
account  of  the  war  in  Europe  there  were  still  immigrants 
from  Portugal  to  the  number  of  15,000,  6,000  Italians, 
nearly  as  many  Spanish,  600  Russians  and  500  “Turco- 
Arabs:”  also  some  two  thousand  Brazilians  were  moved 
from  the  “scourged”  districts  of  the  rainless  north  and 
sent  south.  From  1820  to  the  end  of  1919  the  number 
of  immigrants  entering  Brazil  has  been  as  follows: — 


Italians 

. .1,378,876 

Portuguese. . . 

. . 1,021,271 

Spaniards. . . . 

..  500,378 

Germans 

..  127,321 

Russians 

• • 105,225 

Austrians . . . . 

• • 79,302 

Turk-Arabs.  . 

..  54,120 

French 

29,665 

British 

28,798 

Japanese 

....  18,402 

Swiss 

h,376 

Swedes 

5,502 

Belgians 

....  5,289 

COLONIZATION  IN  BRAZIL 


73 


In  addition,  official  lists  give  another  200,000  of  “di- 
versas”  nationalities  and  a margin  must  also  be  allowed 
for  persons  who  did  not  enter  as  immigrants. 

Where  is  the  future  immigrant  of  Brazil  to  come 
from,  and  to  what  part  of  the  country  is  he  to  go?  I 
have  put  this  question  frequently  to  Brazilians,  and 
have  almost  invariably  received  an  answer  to  this 
effect:  “We  want  white  immigrants,  and  they  can 
settle  healthily  either  in  the  cool  south  of  Brazil  or  on 
the  high  interior  uplands.”  The  sertoes  of  Matto 
Grosso  and  Goyaz  will  not  attract  foreign  settlers  until 
there  is  better  communication;  the  land  is  there,  but 
the  markets  are  not  available.  But  there  is  land  and 
to  spare  still  in  Sao  Paulo  with  its  network  of  railways 
and  good  riverways,  and  there  is  excellent  cereal  and 
cattle  land  in  Parana,  Santa  Catharina  and  Rio  Grande 
do  Sul,  for  the  northern-born,  who  cannot  face  a semi- 
tropical  climate:  for  him  who  can  face  it — as  the  Texas 
cotton-grower  should  do — there  are  extensive  regions 
farther  north  in  Pernambuco  and  her  sister  states.  The 
extreme  north  is  not  fitted  for  white,  Anglo-Saxon  or 
Latin,  families,  and  although  single  men  can  live  health- 
ily in  such  latitudes  for  many  years,  the  life  of  such 
tropic  exiles  is  not  good  for  the  individual  or  for  society. 
Coloured  or  Asiatic  colonists  have  been  suggested  for 
the  Amazonian  valley,  but  it  is  at  least  doubtful  whether 
the  Brazilian  Government  would  favour  such  plans,  or 
whether,  in  view  of  the  fertility  of  the  native  popula- 
tion, such  introductions  would  be  necessary;  saving 
babies  by  improved  sanitation  would  solve  the  problem 
better  than  any  other  method  of  populating. 

The  question  of  where  white  immigration  is  to  come 
from  is  a difficult  one;  after  the  close  of  the  European 


74 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


War,  there  was  an  exodus  from  Russia  and  the  most 
troubled  regions  of  Central  Europe.  But  on  the  other 
hand  the  formation  of  new  States  created  an  appeal  to 
national  feeling  that  kept  at  home  as  creative  builders 
many  men  who  would  otherwise  have  been,  probably, 
among  the  emigrants.  Sao  Paulo  received  in  1920  nearly 
45,000  immigrants,  the  bulk  of  all  entrants,  and  has 
added  considerably  to  the  southerly  Japanese  colonies 
producing  rice,  silk  and  tea;  and  the  conclusion,  in  late 
1921,  of  an  emigration  treaty  between  Brazil  and  Italy 
immediately  set  flowing  a strong  tide  cf  Italian  workers. 

Many  ex-service  men  with  camp  experiences  are  still 
looking  about  them  for  the  country  offering  most  to 
farmers  and  stock-raisers.  To  such  men  there  are  few 
parts  of  the  world  which  offer  as  much  as  does  Brazil, 
with  her  sincere  invitation  to  foreigners,  square  dealing, 
stability,  and  rewards  for  enterprise.  The  lack  of  de- 
velopment along  certain  definite  lines  is  Brazil’s  best 
recommendation  to  the  enterprising  and  persistent. 

No  seeker  after  dolce  far  niente  should  come  here.  No 
thought  of  tropic  paradises  should  obscure  the  vision 
of  the  newcomer.  Brazil  is  a good  country  for  the 
worker,  with  wide  southern  lands  where  careful  culti- 
vation will  bring  excellent  results;  it  is  a really  free  coun- 
try of  tolerant  views  as  well  as  of  wide  spaces.  The 
foreigner  who  comes  here  to  work,  to  develop,  will  feel 
himself  remarkably  soon  at  home  in  a friendly  atmos- 
phere, and  if  he  cares  to  identify  himself  with  progres- 
sive movements  he  will  be  warmly  welcomed;  a very 
long  list  could  be  made  up  of  high-class  foreigners  who 
have  attained  not  only  to  wealth  but  to  positions  which 
proved  the  open  mind  and  confidence  of  the  Brazilian 
authorities.  Naturalized  foreigners  are  eligible  to  the 
legislative  assemblies  of  Brazil,  and  whether  naturalized 


The  Barra  Road,  Upper  City,  Bahia, 

Resaca  along  the  Avenida  Beira  Mar,  Rio:  Morro  da  Gloria  in  background. 
On  the  Upper  Amazon. 


COLONIZATION  IN  BRAZIL 


75 

or  not  foreigners  enjoy  precisely  the  same  rights  and 
privileges  as  Brazilians  before  the  law. 

For  the  mining  engineer,  the  stock- raiser,  the  expert 
agriculturist,  the  fruit-grower,  there  is  plenty  of  room 
in  Brazil;  along  certain  special  lines  his  work  is  much 
wanted,  and  he  can  look  forward  to  getting  a better 
return  for  his  investment  of  personality  and  cash  than 
in  most  places  in  a world  that  has  not  many  great  un- 
touched spaces  left.  The  pioneer,  hardy  and  deter- 
mined, has  still  a chance  in  Brazil. 


CHAPTER  III 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 

One  afternoon  I sat  in  a street-car  of  the  Copacabana 
line  running  to  and  from  the  heart  of  Rio  de  Janeiro 
city.  As  we  approached  the  Avenida  and  paused  at  a 
sharp  turn  at  the  regulator’s  signal,  a small  boy  poorly 
clad  in  cotton  clothes  got  on  to  the  front  platform  with 
a dinner  pail  in  his  hand.  He  set  it  down,  removed  his 
cap,  and  bent  his  knee  as  the  motorman,  with  a swift 
smile  at  the  child,  extended  his  right  hand.  The  boy 
respectfully  kissed  it,  replaced  his  cap,  and  jumped 
down. 

The  little  incident  was  typical  of  the  wide  spread  of 
gentle  manners  in  Brazil;  it  is  here  usual  enough  to 
see  elderly  bankers  kiss  the  hands  of  their  parents,  but 
courtesy  is  not  confined  to  cultured  classes.  One  may 
in  Brazil  depend  upon  a street  cleaner  as  much  as  upon 
a senator  for  chivalrous  politeness.  A stranger  may 
address  any  passer-by  in  a Brazilian  street  in  the  most 
execrable  Portuguese  and  will  almost  invariably  receive 
serious  and  kindly  attention:  it  is  said  that  the  Bra- 
zilian with  his  agreeably  poised  attitude  to  life  “laughs 
at  everything  except  a stranger  who  is  speaking  bad 
Portuguese.” 

I do  not  mean  that  strangers  are  treated  with  special 
courtesy;  good  manners  are  habitual.  Brazilian  men 
meeting  each  other  in  the  street  half  a dozen  times  in 
a day,  lift  their  hats  to  each  other:  no  one,  obliged  to 
step  past  another  closely  on  a street-car,  but  will  raise 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


77 


his  hat  and  murmur  “ Com  licenga!  ” A woman  walking 
down  the  narrow  streets  of  the  older  cities  or  older 
parts  of  the  rejuvenated  cities  will  always  find  her  path 
cleared  by  men  who  step  aside  into  the  road  with  hats 
in  their  hands.  If  she  happens  to  be  very  pretty  looks 
will  follow  her  and  whispers  may,  but  in  my  opinion 
the  ordinary  woman  with  quiet  manners  is  safer  in 
Brazilian  towns  than  in  most  centres  of  population  in 
the  world,  may  break  all  the  small  rules  with  impunity 
and  may  always  depend  upon  the  grave  kindness  of 
the  Brazilian.  People  of  less  punctilious  societies  are 
apt  to  speak  with  a degree  of  contempt  of  “surface 
politeness,”  and  to  say  that  they  prefer  roughness  and 
a good  heart;  generally  this  kind  of  remark  is  a clumsy 
apology  for  boorishness,  and  as  a matter  of  fact  a good 
heart  is  quite  as  likely  to  exist  under  a courteous  exterior 
as  under  a discourteous  one;  a habit  of  consideration 
for  others  in  speech  and  small  actions  is  without  doubt 
good  training  for  any  variety  of  heart  and  head.  The 
Brazilian  is  in  his  mental  attitude  an  inheritor  not  only 
of  Latin  tradition  in  general  but  of  French  ideas  in 
particular:  Paris  is  his  Mecca,  French  literature  and 
French  science  and  French  art  the  inspirers  of  his 
youth;  more  cosmopolitan  than  the  Portuguese  born, 
because  he  is  in  close  touch  with  all  Europe  as  well  as 
with  the  Americas,  quite  minus  the  feeling  that  makes 
the  Spaniard  love  bull-fights,  the  Brazilian  has  grounds 
for  his  claim  as  the  brightest  spiritual  heir  of  Latinity. 
His  excellent  manners  are  a part  of  his  heritage. 

Apparently,  the  very  considerable  additions  to  the 
Brazilian  population  by  immigration  during  the  last 
hundred  years  have  made  little  difference  to  Brazilian 
society;  it  is  true  that  the  Englishman  with  his  tennis 


78 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


and  football  and  his  rowing-clubs  has  introduced  and 
popularized  sport,  so  that  today  there  are  thousands 
of  young  Brazilians  taking  part  in  these  pleasures  and 
it  is  true  that  the  influx  of  artistic  French  in  the  reigns 
of  the  two  Emperors  affected  and  stimulated  sculpture, 
painting  and  writing  in  Brazil;  in  each  case  these  were 
entries  into  Brazilian  society,  the  new  element  arriving 
with  a recognized  status  as  members  of  important  firms 
or  with  a semi-official  position.  There  has  been  family 
mingling,  many  English  and  French  choosing  wives 
from  distinguished  Brazilian  families,  and  in  this  way 
the  influence  of  European  ideas  frequently  has  its  effect 
on  the  education  of  the  children  of  such  unions.  To  a 
less  noticeable  extent  almost  every  nationality  is  found 
in  Brazilian  society,  for  this  is  a country  which  has 
always  welcomed  the  stranger  of  distinction,  but  no 
race  has  impressed  itself  so  firmly  upon  national  charac- 
teristics as  the  Franco-Latin.  Immigration,  properly 
speaking,  the  systematic  colonization  with  which  Sao 
Paulo  supplied  her  coffee  lands  with  labour  and  Rio 
Grande  and  Parana  settled  their  open  spaces,  and  Minas 
tried  to  supplant  negro  workers,  has  affected  Brazilian 
social  conditions  scarcely  at  all.  Generally  isolated  in 
wide  areas,  often  with  no  communication  with  the  out- 
side world  except  by  mule-trail  or  river  until  the  rail- 
way came  a few  years  ago,  the  organized  colonies  of 
Russians,  Poles,  Basques,  Bessarabian  Jews,  Japanese, 
Swiss  and  Germans  lived  their  own  lives,  retaining 
perforce  the  language  and  customs  of  the  lands  from 
which  they  came.  The  Italians,  employed  on  great 
fazendas , were  more  in  contact  with  Brazilian  life  than 
any  other  race,  and  even  they  keep  their  own  speech 
together  with  newly-learned  Portuguese,  eat  Italian 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


79 


food  and  read  Italian-language  newspapers  printed  in 
Brazil.  Not  until  the  development  of  industry  brings 
the  colonies  into  closer  contact  with  each  other  and 
with  Brazilian  centres  of  old  standing  will  the  Galician 
and  Arab  affect  any  society  but  of  his  own  race.  No 
attempt  has  been  made,  probably  wisely,  to  force  these 
settlers  into  the  Brazilian  national  communion;  they 
were  needed  to  fill  spaces,  to  bring  land  into  cultivation 
and  develop  the  wasted  resources  of  an  enormous  land: 
they  have  done  Brazil  this  service,  and  Brazil  in  return 
respects  their  feelings  and  traditions.  One  reason  for 
this  lack  of  interference  with  the  colonies  was  that 
Brazil  possessed  little  machinery  which  could  have 
brought  about  a marked  change:  but  deliberate  policy 
also  entered  into  the  question.  It  was  realized  that 
a change  would  come  about  with  the  passage  of  years, 
when  the  second  or  third  generations  grew  and  mingled 
in  a common  society,  Brazilians  born  and  bred,  and 
that  meanwhile  Brazil  was  too  big  to  fear  the  effect 
of  these  nucleos  with  their  strong  retention  of  foreign 
loves  and  habits.  Broadminded  enough  to  sympathize 
with  such  feelings,  the  Brazilian  knows  that  no  man 
worth  his  salt  forgets  his  native  land;  his  idea  was  ex- 
pressed by  the  genial  writer,  J.  M.  de  Macedo,  when, 
speaking  of  the  French  who  made  fortunes  in  Brazil 
and  returned  with  their  savings  to  France,  he  said:  “If 
it  be  a sin  to  love  one’s  own  country  better  than  any 
other  country,  then  am  I a sinner  too!”  It  is  in  fact 
because  the  Brazilian  has  so  keen  a devotion  to  his 
own  beautiful  land  that  he  comprehends  the  home-love 
of  the  immigrant. 

Class  distinction  still  reigns  in  Brazil  to  a certain 
degree,  as  may  be  expected  in  a land  where  slavery 


8o 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


existed  until  twenty-eight  years  ago,  and  which  twenty- 
seven  years  ago  still  had  an  Emperor  and  a Court  with 
a retinue  of  nobles.  These  nobles  retain  their  titles 
still,  except  in  cases  where  formal  renunciation  was 
made,  but  a provision  was  made  at  the  establishment 
of  the  Republic  that  they  should  not  be  inherited.  It 
is  an  example  of  the  liberal  spirit  in  which  the  break 
was  made,  and  the  absence  of  ill-feeling  towards  the 
Empire,  that  Brazil  thinks  as  much  of  her  Commenda- 
dores,  Conselheiros,  Baroes,  Viscondes  and  Condes  as 
she  does  of  any  newly  distinguished  bacharel  of  today. 
Dom  Pedro  II  gave  these  titles,  very  often,  in  recogni- 
tion of  some  special  service  to  Brazilian  development, 
and  it  is  for  this  reason  that,  encountering  the  Conde 
de  Leopoldina,  we  find  him  to  be  an  Englishman  sur- 
named  Lowndes.  When  the  Princess  Isabel  (Condessa 
d’Eu)  celebrated  her  seventieth  birthday  in  the  summer 
of  1916  the  Brazilian  newspapers  printed  long  notices 
speaking  with  appreciation  of  her  regencies  over  Brazil, 
and  acclaiming  her  act  in  freeing  the  slaves  of  1888;  a 
few  months  previously  a monarchical  society  held  meet- 
ings in  the  capital,  their  sayings  and  doings  were  re- 
ported in  the  public  press  without  any  excitement,  and 
the  trend  of  editorial  comment  was,  “Well,  with  the 
republic  in  such  a muddle,  it  is  no  wonder.” 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  restoration  of  a mon- 
archy in  Brazil  is  quite  unthinkable,  and  that  the 
society’s  existence  is  more  interesting  than  important, 
but  I mention  it  to  show  the  amused  tolerance  of  the 
Brazilian  towards  other  people’s  opinions.  He  has  a 
detached,  sometimes  cynical  attitude,  believes  in  frank 
discussion  and  the  airing  of  ideas,  and  together  with 
a markedly  democratic  habit  of  life  retains  a European 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


81 


respect  for  tradition  and  authority.  In  Rio,  the  intel- 
lectual centre  of  Brazil,  the  influence  of  the  administra- 
tion is  very  strongly  felt,  and  it  is  the  focus  of  interest 
and  activity:  the  Brazilian  takes  a passionate  part  in 
politics,  criticizes  the  Government  when  and  where  he 
thinks  fit,  but  will  never  do  anything  to  undermine  the 
power  and  prestige  of  the  administration.  With  but 
one  notable  exception  the  heads  of  the  Brazilian  Govern- 
ment have  been  men  of  such  ability  and  force  of  char- 
acter that  they  have  thoroughly  earned  the  confidence 
of  the  thinking  classes.  From  the  cultivated  caste  in 
Brazil  is  chiefly  drawn  the  political  group:  there  have 
been  exceptions,  as  in  the  case  of  Pinheiro  Machado, 
but  as  a rule  the  reins  are  in  the  hands  of  a distinct 
social  element,  descendants  of  white  Portuguese  families 
and  frequently  men  of  great  intellectual  strength.  The 
names  of  the  Visconde  de  Rio  Branco,  Conselheiro 
Rodrigues  Alves,  Joao  Alfredo  and  Alfonso  Penna  are 
but  four  out  of  a long  list  of  statesmen  of  the  first  rank 
in  Brazil.  The  ruling  classes  are  almost  always  great 
landowners,  fazendeiros,  and  there  was  a time  when 
sons  of  such  families  destined  themselves  to  politics, 
agriculture  or  one  of  the  “professions;”  today  commer- 
cial careers  are  sometimes  chosen — perhaps  partly  be- 
cause the  planter  of  coffee  or  sugar  is  often  necessarily 
a mill-owner  and  shipper  as  well — as  Brazil  becomes 
more  industrialized,  but  although  these  young  men 
may  enter  other  than  the  traditional  spheres,  it  is  sel- 
dom that  theirs  is  invaded  from  the  world  of  indus- 
trialists or  commerciantes.  The  latter  are,  indeed, 
largely  recruited  from  the  foreign  element;  shop-keepers 
as  well  as  commission  agents  and  dealers  all  down  the 
coast  were  once  largely  British  and  French,  but  now 


82 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


the  energetic  Portuguese-born  trader,  with  the  keen 
Italian  and  Spaniard,  and  the  still  more  insinuating 
Syrian,  has  absorbed  a marked  proportion  of  the  retail 
business. 

Below  the  commercial  element  comes  that  of  labour, 
stratum  of  entirely  different  composition;  it  differs  too 
in  varying  localities,  from  that  of  the  south,  where 
slavery  tailed  off  in  Sao  Paulo,  never  penetrating  the 
more  southerly  states,  and  where  white  labour  of  immi- 
grant origin  performs  field  work,  to  the  central  section 
where  the  mestizo  (mixed  blood)  of  white  and  Indian  or, 
about  Bahia  and  Pernambuco,  white  and  negro,  blood 
is  the  worker;  in  and  near  Bahia  itself  thousands  of 
pure-blood  negroes  or  mulattos  form  the  labouring 
class,  to  the  almost  total  exclusion  of  any  other.  Farther 
north  the  negro  element  fades  out  and  the  Indian  mix- 
ture predominates  in  a wiry  strain  which  furnishes  all 
the  labour  of  the  Amazon  valley. 

Upon  this  great  mass  of  mixed-blood  labourers  the 
educational  systems  of  Brazil  make  a certain  if  slow 
impression.  Intelligent  and  apt,  docile  if  conciliated 
and  stubborn  if  crossed,  the  mestizo  has  some  excellent 
qualities;  the  indolence  of  which  he  is  often  accused  is 
sometimes  want  of  direction,  and  sometimes  the  result 
of  ill-health  in  certain  regions,  disappearing  when  the 
enervating  malaria  and  ankylostomiasis  are  conquered, 
exactly  as  in  the  South  of  the  United  States  where  the 
same  troubles  are  common.  With  better  sanitation  in 
the  crowded  warm  regions,  and  persistence  in  good 
schooling,  the  brasileiro  of  the  labouring  classes  would 
not  need  supplanting  with  introduced  immigrants. 
Between  him  and  the  legislator  there  is  a great  gulf 
fixed;  its  existence  might  be  dangerous  were  not  the 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


83 


habit  of  the  Brazilian  gentle;  it  can  be  bridged  only  by 
education.  “We  have  no  organization  for  the  expres- 
sion of  popular  opinion,”  declared  a Brazilian  writer 
recently.  “The  statesman,  the  government  official, 
the  legislator,  the  administrator  has  to  be  a kind  of 
powerful  Jehovah,  capable  of  creating  worlds  out  of 
nothing  . . . unless  the  bachelor  ( bacharel — “doctor”) 
president,  the  bachelor  governor,  the  bachelor  minister 
or  the  bachelor  deputy  should  sally  forth  through 
Brazil  ( saiam  por  esses  Brazis  afora),  over  mountains 
and  valleys,  to  enquire  at  the  window  of  every  farm,  at 
the  door  of  every  store,  at  the  entrance  of  each  factory, 
in  each  lacemaker’s  shop  and  at  each  blacksmith’s 
forge,  what  Agriculture,  Commerce,  Industry  and  the 
Proletariat  wish  for  their  practical  and  effective  better- 
ment. ...”  At  least  it  can  never  be  said  that  the 
faults  and  lapses  of  Brazil  are  not  understood  and  dis- 
cussed by  her  own  educated  classes;  there  is  no  country 
where  self-criticism  is  more  hearty.  During  the  early 
part  of  1916  a party  of  specialists  in  tropical  maladies 
from  the  Rockefeller  Institute  passed  through  Brazil 
and  made  some  investigations;  one  of  the  weeklies  of 
Rio  famous  for  its  cartoons  and  skits  on  public  affairs 
remarked  that  the  visitors  need  not  have  come  to  Brazil 
to  study  malaria — they  would  find  that  in  a hundred 
places:  they  should  study  the  troubles  that  were  really 
peculiar  to  Brazil.  It  gave  an  illustrated  list:  among 
the  items  was  the  “national  long  tongue” — we  talk  too 
much;  another  was  bacharelismo — everyone  in  Brazil 
wants  to  be  a “Doctor”  of  medicine  or  law  or  philos- 
ophy. It  is  a disease  not  altogether  limited  to  Brazil, 
despite  the  Malho. 

Cartoons  in  Brazil  have  a point  of  interest  in  addition 


84 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


to  their  wit,  in  the  presentment  of  a national  figure, 
“Ze  (Jose)  Povo.”  Ze  Povo  is  “the  people,”  quite 
distinct  from  the  dignified  figure  of  the  Republican  a 
lady  in  draperies  crowned  with  the  Phrygian  cap.  Ze  is 
the  man  in  the  street  who  stands  by  and  makes  acid 
comments;  he  has  no  counterpart  in  North  American  or 
English  journals,  but  speaks  his  mind  much  as  “Liborio’ 
does  in  the  Cuban  humorous-political  papers.  No  one 
can  say  that  the  press  is  not  free  in  Brazil. 

Industrial  expansion  in  Brazil  will  be  the  great 
amalgamator  of  the  grades  and  divisions  of  the  popula- 
tion; colonists  of  foreign  origin  cannot  continue  to  live 
in  separate  nests,  commercial  fortunes  will  blend  so- 
ciety, and  the  expansion  of  agriculture  will  sooner  or 
later  mean  the  evolution  of  the  sertanejo  into  a mod- 
ernized, trading  farmer;  as  the  hills  are  opened  for  metals 
and  the  forests  are  entered  for  hardwoods  and  dyes  and 
latex,  the  millions  of  Indians  of  the  interior  must  be 
brought  into  line,  or,  retreating,  eventually  die  out — 
the  worst  solution  of  his  case  and  probably  an  unneces- 
sary one.  But  at  the  present  day  there  are  many  dis- 
tinct types  among  Brazilian  populations,  and  of  them 
that  of  the  sertanejo , the  farmer  of  the  interior,  the 
sertao,  is  not  the  least  interesting.  Here  on  the  wide 
uplands  of  the  plateau  he  lives  very  much  as  Isaac  lived, 
his  world  about  him,  his  home,  servants  and  herds  his 
chief  interests;  simple,  philosophic,  intensely  hospitable 
although  reserved  and  proud,  he  makes  little  money  but 
by  his  cattle,  and  wants  little.  His  bodily  needs  are 
few,  his  furnishings  of  the  simplest;  his  food  is  mainly 
the  inevitable  farinha  de  mandioca,  milk  products,  beans 
(feijao)  and  eggs  and  came.  He  may  be  the  owner  of 
great  expanses  of  land,  but  he  will  seldom  sell  or  divide 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


85 


it  and  there  is  no  other  life  that  he  will  endure  and  live. 
In  touch  with  the  open  sky,  the  broad  horizon  before 
him,  the  sertanejo  is  of  a class  apart;  his  is  a simple  and  a 
dignified  figure. 

Brought  to  town,  through  acquisition  of  money  or 
the  wishes  of  his  womenfolk,  the  farmer  of  the  interior 
is  a peg  for  many  witticisms  of  the  townsman;  he  is  a 
“caipira,”  a countryman,  a hayseed,  and  endless 
amusement  is  obtained  at  his  expense.  One  of  the  Rio 
weeklies,  the  Careta , once  ran  a series  of  illustrated 
adventures  of  such  a farmer  who  is  supposed  to  come  to 
Rio  de  Janeiro  on  a visit  with  his  wife  and  pretty 
daughter,  and  who  takes  in  the  “sights”  of  the  Capital 
from  the  countryman’s  angle. 

A simple  camaraderie  prevails  in  the  upland  interior, 
where  little  money  passes  and  barter  of  goods  is  the 
most  common  form  of  exchange;  it  is  frequently  im- 
possible to  hire  labour,  and  as  a consequence  farmers 
and  their  sons  invite  the  help  of  their  neighbours  when 
field  work  is  needed,  giving  their  own  time  in  turn  when 
occasion  arises.  No  distinction  between  rich  and  poor 
occurs  in  a society  of  such  friendly  simplicity. 

In  the  cattle  regions  there  is  a special  ceremony  every 
year,  for  rounding  and  branding  cattle,  known  as  the 
feira  dos  bizerros  (calf  branding)  and  the  apartagao  do 
gado — separation  of  herds,  frequently  running  with 
those  of  other  fazendeiros  over  unfenced  country.  All 
the  neighbours  arrive  at  the  farm  which  is  thus  counting 
its  stock,  families  making  it  an  occasion  of  friendly  re- 
union. During  the  evenings  of  the  two  or  three  days  of 
festa  there  is  a continual  round  of  coffee-drinking  and 
eating,  many  a marriage  is  arranged  and  consummated; 


86 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


at  the  close  of  the  work  there  is  frequently  a series  of 
competitions  of  skill  in  horsemanship,  the  clever  per- 
formance of  the  vaquejada  or  derrubada  always  exciting  a 
critical  audience.  Horsemen,  mounted  on  well-trained 
animals,  post  themselves  at  the  gate  of  the  corral  where 
bulls  have  been  shut  up  for  a day  or  two;  the  bars  are 
let  down  and  when  the  cattle  rush  out  each  of  the 
horsemen  tries  to  seize  a bull  by  its  tail  and  throw  it  to 
the  ground — success  largely  depending  on  the  clever- 
ness of  the  horse  in  avoiding  the  rushes  and  struggles  of 
the  bull.  The  last  night  is  one  of  continual  dancing  and 
temperate  feasting,  the  flute  and  violin  sounding  until 
dawn.  It  is  a little  curious  that  these  instruments,  with 
the  guitar,  are  the  favourites  of  the  musical  peasantry 
of  Brazil,  and  that  the  exquisite  marimba  of  African 
origin,  carried  by  negroes  into  Central  America  and 
there  enthusiastically  adopted  by  the  Quiche-Cachiquel 
natives,  should  not  have  also  found  a home  in  the 
southern  continent. 

Among  the  other  figures  of  the  sertao,  created  by  the 
absence  of  mechanical  transportation  in  a series  of  great 
regions,  is  the  tropeiro,  the  leader  and  frequently  the 
owner  of  a troop  of  mules  carrying  the  products  of  the 
interior  to  market.  A good  tropeiro  is  entrusted  with 
the  marketing  of  the  cotton  crop  of  a fazenda  or  even  a 
district,  and  he  will  carry  cash  for  long  distances,  set- 
tling accounts,  making  purchases;  his  mules  are  trained 
performers  who  know  their  work  and  make  themselves 
understood  if  there  is  anything  wrong  with  one  of  their 
number.  In  the  north  of  the  Brazilian  promontory — 
Bahia,  Pernambuco,  interior  Ceara,  Maranhao  and  Rio 
Grande  do  Norte  as  well  as  the  hinterlands  of  the  cen- 
tral states,  the  tropeiro  undertakes  the  transportation  of 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  87 

much  of  the  interior  crop  of  cotton,  sugar  and  to- 
bacco. 

He  is  doomed  to  extinction  as  the  steel  arms  of  the  rail- 
roads push  out  into  the  interior,  but  his  day  is  not  yet  done. 

Public  lotteries  are  to  the  Brazilian  what  horse-racing 
is  to  the  Englishman  and  baseball  to  the  North  Amer- 
ican. It  is  a form  of  excitement,  with  a chance  of 
betting  something  and  winning  a great  deal,  an  interest 
apart  from  the  ordinary  round  of  business.  Opinion  is 
not  popularly  opposed  to  the  system  in  Brazil,  any 
more  than  it  is  in,  for  instance,  Italy,  and  in  like  manner 
it  is  conducted  by  the  Federal  Government,  is  a recog- 
nized source  of  revenue,  and  many  charities  and  other 
worthy  institutions  supported  by  the  authorities  de- 
rive their  main  income  from  it.  Few  people  express 
any  adverse  sentiments  to  these  regularized  lotteries, 
but  an  amusing  offshoot  from  it,  illegal,  forbidden, 
pounced  upon  now  and  again  by  the  police,  generally 
denounced  by  the  press,  and  indulged  in  by  everyone, 
is  the  famous  bicho.  A bicho  is  in  Brazil  any  kind  of 
animal  or  bird  or  insect — everything  living  is  popularly 
a bicho — and  in  this  underground  lottery  groups  of 
numbers  are  represented  by  a deer  or  monkey,  butterfly 
or  tiger,  etc.,  something  more  interesting  than  a bald 
set  of  figures.  The  bicho  was  of  independent  origin, 
with  twenty-five  animals  represented,  but  nowadays 
depends  upon  the  government  results,  and  is  really  a 
gamble  on  a gamble,  but  with  the  advantage  that  com- 
binations and  groups  can  be  played  on,  and  very  small 
sums  staked.  You  can  stake  a few  pennies  on  your 
favourite  humming-bird  again  and  again  without  feeling 
the  loss  when  the  anta  persists  in  coming  up  instead, 


88 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


and  there  would  be  little  harm  done  did  not  servants 
sent  to  the  market  get  the  bicho  habit  so  badly,  together 
with  shoe-shiners  and  waiters  and  all  the  working  class, 
that  in  its  acutest  form  “playing  on  the  bicho’’  becomes 
an  obsession  equal  to  drug-taking.  Tickets  for  the 
bicho  can  be  bought  at  many  newsdealers’,  in  scores  of 
shops,  little  banks  and  financial  houses  run  it,  and  some 
daily  papers  print  pictures  of  the  winning  animals:  it  is 
well  not  to  stake  more  than  a milreis  or  two,  because 
while  a modest  winning  will  be  paid  your  gain  of  a 
conto  would  probably  be  met  by  the  assurance  that 
the  ticket-seller  cannot  pay.  In  such  a case  there  is 
no  redress  as  the  whole  thing  is  illegal. 

Its  chief  objection  in  the  eyes  of  the  authorities  is 
that  it  does  not  yield  a public  revenue,  and  that  people 
spend,  in  the  aggregate,  more  money  on  the  bicho  than 
on  public  lotteries  which  are  sources  of  governmental 
income.  Nevertheless,  denounced,  raided,  and  occa- 
sionally prosecuted,  the  bicheiros  continue  to  exist  and  to 
furnish  a mild  form  of  excitement  and  adventure.  I do 
not  think  that  lotteries  are  more  objectionable  origina- 
tors of  a thrill  than  cocktails  and  whiskies  dear  to  the 
Anglo-Saxon;  in  regard  to  heady  liquors  the  Latin  is  uni- 
versally abstemious,  and  the  rule  is  not  broken  in  Brazil. 

Rarely  does  the  Brazilian  born  and  bred  drink  any- 
thing stronger  than  coffee,  and  this  he  takes,  in  little 
cups  in  the  innumerable  cafeterias  of  every  city,  many 
times  a day.  Since  the  established  price  of  a little  cup 
of  hot,  very  strong  black  coffee  is  but  a tostao  (two  U.  S. 
cents)  there  is  no  great  extravagance  about  this.  At 
family  meals  a little  wine,  generally  imported  from 
Portugal,  France  or  Italy,  is  on  the  table:  since  Rio 
Grande  has  been  trying  her  hand  at  wine-making  the 


5> 


Monroe  Palacio,  on  the  Avenida  Rio  Branco,  Rio  de  Janeiro. 
Municipal  Theatre,  Sao  Paulo  City. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


89 


bottle  may  contain  vinho  nacional;  in  any  case  it  is 
sparingly  used.  The  younger  generation  has  taken  to  a 
limited  extent  to  the  whisky  introduced  by  the  Britisher, 
the  beer  of  the  German,  now  very  well  brewed  in  the 
country,  and  the  cocktail  of  the  newcomer  of  North 
America,  but  he  appears  to  drink  these  exotics  more 
with  a desire  to  be  in  the  fashion  or  a “good  sport” 
than  because  he  likes  them. 

Deliberate  drinking  is  almost  confined  to  the  festas 
beloved  of  the  mestizo  and  mulatto  populations,  es- 
pecially celebrated  in  agricultural  districts,  when  the 
Brazilian-made  cacha^a,  a kind  of  rum  made  from 
sugarcane,  is  liberally  consumed.  Its  festive  use  seems 
to  be  a survival  of  Indian  custom,  for  the  natives  of  the 
coasts  and  forests  in  pre-Portuguese  days  made  a fer- 
mented liquor  (from  milho  = maize)  for  special  occasions, 
and  their  descendants  as  well  as  the  negro  element, 
also  great  lovers  of  celebrations,  regard  an  occasional 
period  of  revelry  as  a right.  The  influence  of  Christian- 
ity has  succeeded  in  identifying  these  festal  occasions 
with,  and  confining  them  to,  saints’  days  and  other 
Church  celebrations,  but  their  root  is  more  primitive. 

Religion  in  Brazil  has  never  been  a matter  for  dis- 
sension or  the  cause  of  social  upheaval:  the  original 
donatarios  brought  chaplains  with  them  as  a matter  of 
course,  missionary  Jesuits  and  members  of  Franciscan, 
Benedictine,  Dominican  and  other  Orders  gradually 
founding  establishments  in  the  settlements.  With  re- 
gard to  the  natives  their  task  was  easy,  since  there  ex- 
isted no  definite  religion  to  be  eradicated,  and,  except 
w'hen  the  work  of  the  missionaries  interfered  writh  the 
designs  of  the  planters,  cordial  co-operation  existed 
between  the  padres,  colonists,  and  authorities;  many 


go 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


of  them  had  a hand  in  political  matters,  were  emissaries 
between  the  mother  country  and  Brazil,  and  enjoyed 
marked  prestige.  No  Inquisition  was  ever  established 
in  Brazilian  territory,  and  a bone  of  contention  thus 
avoided.  With  the  erection  of  the  Republic  in  1889 
Church  was  separated  from  State,  probably  much  to 
the  betterment  of  conditions,  for  considerable  criticism 
of  clerical  ways  and  habits  had  grown  up,  laxity  follow- 
ing upon  security;  put  upon  her  mettle  as  an  inde- 
pendent organization,  and  faced  with  the  competition 
of  other  permitted  forms  of  belief,  the  Roman  Catholic 
church  in  Brazil  is  said  to  have  performed  much  needed 
purifying. 

Tolerance  is  a long-established  habit.  Protestant 
forms  of  Christianity  exist  undisturbed,  and  although 
their  temples  are  very  generally  attended  exclusively 
by  the  foreign  congregations  responsible  for  their 
origin,  and  proselytizing  is  not  encouraged,  their  social 
work  is  undoubtedly  useful.  In  the  southern  organized 
settlements  each  community  practises  the  form  of  faith 
of  the  home-land,  the  Russians  of  the  Greek  church, 
Germans  with  their  Lutheran  establishments,  and  so 
on;  there  is  not  the  slightest  interference — religious 
intolerance  is  indeed  unimaginable  in  Brazil.  It  has 
been  said  often  of  the  Brazilian  that  this  attitude  arises 
from  indifference,  that  the  practice  of  religious  observ- 
ances is  left  to  women  and  children  and  that  the  grown 
men  of  communities  are  cynical — next-door  to  what 
used  to  be  called  “agnosticism”  by  the  professional 
European  unbelievers  of  the  past  generation.  This  is, 
I think,  only  apparently  true.  It  has  an  appearance 
of  truth  in  that  the  churches  are  largely  filled  with 
women;  it  is  common  for  Brazilian  men  in  conversation 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


9i 


to  affect  an  airy  amusement  before  the  claims  of  re- 
ligious bodies:  but  due  allowance  must  be  made  for 
French  influence.  Almost  up  to  the  time  of  the  Euro- 
pean War  there  was  a parade  of  emancipation  from 
clerical  leading  strings  by  the  intellectual  French,  yet 
the  course  of  the  conflict  has  witnessed  a spiritual 
awakening,  the  resurrection  of  something  dormant; 
the  France  of  today  is  probably  more  sincerely  religious 
than  she  has  been  for  many  a century.  The  cynicism 
of  masculine  Brazil  may  be  no  more  deeply  rooted. 

As  in  France,  there  is  in  Brazil  no  reaching  out  after 
new  religions  comparable  to  the  tendency  in  the  United 
States  which  is  so  curious  an  indication  of  emotional 
phases:  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  Brazilian  reception 
of  Mormonism  or  Zionism,  for  instance.  The  only 
notable  example  of  serious  adoption  of  a new  faith  is 
found  in  the  extreme  South,  where  the  principles  of 
August  Comte  have  taken  root,  and  the  riograndense  of 
the  educated  ruling  class  is  generally  a Comtist. 

In  certain  of  the  older,  more  northerly  towns  of 
Brazil  the  proportion  of  Roman  Catholic  churches  to 
the  population  is  remarkably  large,  particularly  in 
Bahia,  Pernambuco  and  its  elder  sister,  Olinda.  That 
they  are  able  to  exist  is  largely  due  to  the  negro  and 
mulatto  element,  for  here  as  in  all  other  parts  of  the 
world  where  he  has  been  taken  the  negro  is  a fervent 
admirer  of  almost  any  kind  of  religion.  It  is  the  swarm- 
ing coloured  people  of  Bahia,  crowded  in  the  cobble- 
paved,  half-lighted  rookeries  of  the  lower  town  and  the 
tilted  streets  leading  to  the  upper  town,  who  make  it 
possible  to  keep  open  the  doors  of  that  city’s  four  hun- 
dred churches.  In  these  centres  all  the  many  saints’ 


92 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


days  are  kept  with  fervour,  but  it  is  in  the  interior  that 
tradition  and  a simple  faith  in  “white  magic”  survive; 
here  that  the  ceremonies  of  All  Hallowe’en  are  per- 
formed by  maids  of  the  sertao,  and  spells  invoked.  St. 
John’s  is  one  of  the  popular  days,  with  its  legends  and 
traditional  celebrations,  when  groups  of  boys  and  girls, 
mingling  on  this  occasion  as  youth  of  Latin  inheritance 
does  not  often  mingle,  crowned  with  leaves  and  flowers, 
go  down  to  the  river  banks  to  wash,  singing  as  they 
go,  because  as  the  verse  says:  “Nessa  noite  e benta  a 
agua,  Para  tudo  tern  virtudes.”  Fires  are  lighted  out- 
side each  house  in  homage  to  St.  John,  and  at  these 
green  corn  is  roasted — the  traditional  milho  assado  na 
fogueira.  Over  the  hot  ashes  of  these  fires  the  faithful 
walk  barefoot  without  being  burnt.  . . . 

On  this  night  lovers  make  their  tests  of  the  fidelity  of 
the  sweetheart,  and  girls  try  to  discover  their  fate  in 
marriage;  St.  John,  however,  is  not  the  only  aider  of 
candidates  for  matrimony — there  is  “Sao  Gon^alvo,”  a 
great  lover  of  lovers,  and  St.  Anthony,  famous  in  North 
Brazil  for  his  power  in  binding  uncertain  swains.  A 
well-used  prayer  to  this  saint  is  quoted  by  Pereira 
da  Costa  in  his  Folklore  Pernambucano  and  begins: 
“Father  St.  Anthony  of  Captives,  you  who  are  a firm 
binder,  tie  him  who  wishes  to  flee  from  me;  with  your 
habit  and  with  your  holy  girdle  hinder  the  steps  of 
Fulano  as  with  a strong  cage.  . . 

St.  Raymund  is  another  helper  of  solitary  maidens, 
and  a guaranteed  prayer  of  noted  efficiency  is  addressed 
to  him;  translated  freely  it  runs: 

Miraculous  Saint  Raymund, 

You  who  help  everyone  to  marry, 

Please  tell  Saint  Anthero 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


93 


That  I wish  to  be  married  soon 
To  a very  good-looking  young  man, 

In  the  church  of  Saint  Benedict. 

Before  the  altar  of  Saint  Rosa 
I want  to  give  my  hand  as  a wife 
To  him  whom  I love  so  much, 

Asking  Saint  German 
And  also  Saint  Henry 
That  I shall  be  happily  married. 

May  Saint  Odoric  permit 
That  the  young  man  be  rich. 

And  Saint  Augustine  grant 
That  he  loves  me  very  much 
And  I beg  Saint  Robert 
That  he  may  be  clever. 

Also  I pray  Saint  Vincent 
That  the  wedding  may  be  soon, 

Begging  Saint  Innocencia 
Not  to  let  me  lose  patience, 

And  asking  Saint  Caetano 
That  it  may  happen  this  year. 

I have  already  prayed  Saint  Inez 
Not  to  let  this  month  pass, 

And  Saint  Mariana, 

That  it  may  be  this  week — 

And  I beg  the  Virgin  Our  Lady 
That  it  may  be  this  very  hour! 

From  which  it  will  be  seen  that  the  saints  are  expected 
to  be  useful,  and  that  festas  of  the  church  are  agreeable 
to  these  young  people,  leading  in  the  older  centres  a 
rather  restricted  social  life. 


94 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


Women  in  Brazil  occupy  a position  out  of  which  they 
have  been  forced  or  have  voluntarily  emerged  in  many 
countries.  It  is  for  many  reasons  a very  happy  life,  for, 
withdrawn  as  she  is,  the  Brazilian  wife  and  mother  has 
complete  authority  over  the  wide  sphere  which  tradi- 
tion has  so  long  assigned  to  her.  It  is  a moot  point 
whether  women  in  other  lands  would  seek  emergence 
from  that  circle  if  circumstances  did  not  send  them  from 
it;  the  salary-earning  women  of  Western  Europe  and 
North  America  perhaps  do  not  always  realize  that 
theirs  is  not  altogether  a choice  between  home  and 
independence,  that  they  work  because  they  must  work. 
The  exigencies  of  climate,  as  well  as  modern  education, 
send  women  out  to  the  ranks  of  the  workers  in  lands 
where  there  are  at  least  as  many  women  as  men. 

In  Brazil  there  is  no  such  equality  of  numbers.  The 
list  of  men  is  always  much  longer  than  that  of  women, 
chiefly  because  of  the  stream  of  male  immigrants  who 
arrive  in  the  country  without  families,  and,  earning  good 
wages,  set  about  the  acquisition  of  a home.  The  pre- 
dominant classes  of  such  immigrants  are  Portuguese, 
and  these  men,  speaking  the  same  language  and  with 
close  affiliations  to  Brazil,  readily  seek  wives  among  the 
Brazilian  families  to  which  their  status  gives  them 
entry.  Little  social  adjustment  is  needed  in  such 
unions,  much  less  than  in  the  case  of  the  marriage  of 
Brazilian  girls  with  foreigners  of  a totally  divergent 
origin. 

The  Brazilian  girl  is  said  to  be  precocious,  and  she  is 
certainly  the  possessor  of  tactful  manners  and  distinct 
aplomb  in  her  early  teens.  If  she  is  a member  of  a 
wealthy  family  she  has  generally  spent  some  years  in 
French  schools,  and  it  is  not  unusual  to  find  beautiful 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


95 


young  women  of  nineteen  or  so  who  have  been  educated 
in  Germany,  France,  Switzerland  and  England,  and 
who  speak  four  or  five  languages  fluently.  All  educated 
Brazilians  speak  and  read  French,  most  of  them  under- 
stand but  will  not  speak  English,  and  nearly  all  those 
from  the  more  southerly  parts  of  Brazil  have  learned 
German  for  commercial  reasons  or  have  been  partly 
educated  in  Germany.  Educational  affiliations  with  the 
United  States  are  new,  and  apply  to  young  men  more 
than  to  girls;  technical  training  in  engineering  or  trading 
is  sought  increasingly  in  North  America  for  business 
reasons  as  commercial  exchange  develops,  but  the 
closely  guarded,  often  conventual  training  of  the  girls 
has  a very  different  aim.  The  young  Brazilian  girl  is 
frequently  a good  horsewoman,  for  life  on  a farm  is  al- 
most sure  to  be  included  in  the  tale  of  her  early  years; 
she  is  often  also  a good  swimmer.  Music  is  an  in- 
variable part  of  her  education  on  which  stress  is  laid, 
and  I have  heard  some  brilliant  executants  among 
Brazilian  women.  Dressed  in  the  height  of  Parisian 
fashions,  chic,  demure  outside  her  family  and  full  of  gay 
camaraderie  with  her  endless  lines  of  brothers  and 
sisters  inside  the  home,  the  Brazilian  young  girl  is  a very 
charming  creature.  She  has  the  loveliest  dark  eyes  in 
the  world,  and  often  possesses  a very  fine  clear  pale  skin. 

Married,  she  seems  to  resign  herself  contentedly  to  a 
purely  domestic  life;  one  enters  homes  in  Brazil  whose 
handsome  hostess  entertains  delightfully,  always  ex- 
quisitely dressed,  and  sparkling  with  the  big  diamonds 
that  are  considered  the  simple  right  of  every  woman  in 
Brazil — my  washerwoman  in  Rio  had  a pair  of  brilliant 
earrings  that  cost  three  contos  of  reis,  representing  her 
life’s  savings — but  this  same  smiling  hostess  will  never 


96 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


be  seen  outside  her  spacious  home  and  gardens,  except 
upon  the  formal  occasions  when  she  is  obliged  to  make 
an  appearance  in  public  with  her  husband.  She  not 
infrequently  displays  a tendency  to  embonpoint  early  in 
life,  the  result  of  lack  of  exertion  and  the  eating  of  the 
extraordinary  and  delicious  doces  (sweets  and  candies), 
the  creation  of  which  is  a special  art  of  Brazilian  women, 
but  she  does  not  mind  this  at  all,  fearing  a thin  figure  as 
the  most  terrible  of  disasters  in  this  land  where  the 
highest  compliment  paid  to  a woman  is:  “How  pretty 
and  fat  you  are  getting!”  Gorda  and  bonita  are  indeed 
interchangeable  terms. 

She  accepts  her  destiny  as  a mother  of  many  children, 
and  generally  spoils  them  badly,  at  least  in  their  in- 
fancy; the  father  is  equally  indulgent.  A harsh  parent 
is  a rara  avis,  and  nothing  excites  popular  indignation  in 
Brazil  more  than  any  story  of  hardship  in  which  chil- 
dren are  concerned.  Passionately  devoted  to  her  babies, 
the  Brazilian  mother  stays  within  her  home,  is  the 
gracious  sovereign  of  her  circle,  and  seems  little  dis- 
turbed when  it  expands  notably.  This  expansion  is 
likely  to  happen  if  any  relative  either  on  her  side  or  her 
husband’s  falls  upon  evil  days;  in  that  case  he  will  come 
with  his  family  and  camp  out  until  fortune  smiles  again. 
There  is  no  turning  of  the  cold  shoulder  upon  poor  rela- 
tions in  Brazil — they  are  welcome  to  a share  of  the 
family  fare,  and  to  hammock  space  if  beds  are  lacking 
in  the  case  of  poorer  homes,  secure  in  the  knowledge 
that  they  in  turn  will  repay  this  good  deed  with  similar 
ones  later  on.  The  city  centres  have  of  course  their 
more  rigid  social  laws,  but  in  the  less  restricted  life  of 
smaller  towns  or  fazendas  there  is  often  encountered 
another  variation  from  the  harsher  rules  of  some  other 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


97 


lands:  this  is  the  placid  acceptance  into  a home  of  chil- 
dren who  do  not  claim  the  mistress  of  the  house  as 
mother,  but  who  receive  from  her  bed  and  board  and  a 
status  little  inferior  to  that  of  her  own  babies,  regular 
members  of  society.  Lapses  from  social  law  occur  all 
over  the  world;  they  are  punished  to  a greater  or  lesser 
degree  everywhere,  but  in  some  countries  the  innocent 
suffer  more  than  the  guilty;  unhappy  and  unwanted 
children  bear  a stigma  against  which  they  rebel  in  vain. 
Brazilian  opinion  does  not  spare  offenders,  but  it  does 
withhold  any  harsh  hand  from  innocent  children.  Ac- 
knowledged and  treated  with  affection,  they  are  given  a 
chance  in  life  together  with  the  more  fortunate. 

Life  in  the  two  chief  cities  of  Brazil,  Rio  and  Sao 
Paulo,  takes  its  hue  from  the  European  capitals  with 
which  they  are  closely  in  touch,  and  from  which  they 
have  derived  mental  food  for  many  a generation.  There 
is  little  about  either  of  these  fine  cities,  apart  from  the 
hot  summers,  the  brilliant  vegetation,  their  remarkable 
cleanliness  and  the  Southern  Cross  overhead,  to  dis- 
tinguish them  from  European  cities;  the  clothes,  amuse- 
ments, buildings,  and  literature  of  the  population  is 
predominantly  European,  and  there  is  not  much  to 
remind  the  visitor  that  he  is  in  tropical  South  America. 
Rio  is  the  “intellectual  centre”  of  Brazil,  and  here  are 
gathered  the  scores  of  good  writers  and  poets,  the 
artists  and  politicians,  of  the  country;  there  is  a profuse 
and  characteristic  literature.  If  the  North  American 
writer  was  correct  in  saying  that  “American  literature 
is  only  a phase  of  English  literature,”  he  would  have 
been  equally  justified  in  saying  that  South  American 
literature  is  a phase  of  French  literature:  yet  in  Brazil 
this  would  have  less  truth  than  in  most  parts  of  Latin 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


98 

America,  because  this  country  has  so  largely  developed 
a series  of  writers  who  take  native  Brazilian  life  for 
their  theme.  There  are  long  lists  of  Brazilian  novels 
and  poems  which  really  reflect  Brazil  conditions  in  the 
very  varied  sections  of  the  country;  I know  no  other 
South  American  country  whose  literature  is  so  emanci- 
pated, not  from  French  style  so  much  as  from  European 
subject  matter.  There  is  for  instance  the  excellent 
work  of  the  Visconde  de  Taunay,  whose  charming 
Innocencia  is  a picture  of  interior  conditions,  and 
has  been  translated  into  almost  every  language,  not 
excepting  Japanese.  The  books  of  Jose  de  Alencar 
form  another  series  of  provincial  pictures;  Machado  de 
Assis  wrote  a number  of  historical  novels  of  great 
merit  and  interest;  Coelho  Netto,  Aluisio  de  Azevedo, 
J.  M.  de  Macedo,  Xavier  Marques,  are  among  a score 
of  names  of  writers  who  have  left  records  of  Brazilian 
life.  If  I were  advising  the  study  of  a brief  list  of  such 
novels,  this  would  be  a preliminary  dozen: — 
Innocencia:  by  the  Visconde  de  Taunay.  Novel  of 
fazenda  life  in  the  interior — a delicate  and  touching 
story. 

Os  Sertoes:  by  Euclydes  da  Cunha.  Powerful  and  vivid 
description  of  a page  of  national  history,  with  a 
setting  in  the  interior  Brazilian  uplands. 

0 Sertao:  by  Coelho  Netto.  Scene  also  laid  in  the  in- 
terior, with  its  simple  customs. 

0 Mulato:  Aluisio  de  Azevedo.  Deals  with  the  position  of 
the  negro  half-caste  in  Brazil. 

0 Gaucho:  Jose  de  Alencar.  Life  of  the  Brazilian  cow- 
boy. 

Os  Praieiros:  Xavier  Marques.  Life  of  the  fisherfolk 
on  islands  near  Bahia. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


99 


0 Paroara:  Rodolpho  Theophilo.  Exodus  of  the 
Cearenses  to  the  rubber  forests  of  the  Amazon. 
Maria  Dusa:  Lindolpho  Rocha.  Story  of  diamond 
hunters  in  the  interior  of  Bahia. 

Braz  Cubas  and  Quincas  Borba:  Machado  de  Assis. 

Historical  novels  dealing  with  colonial  life. 
Esphynge:  Afranio  Peixoto.  Social  life  of  Rio  and 
Petropolis,  or  Dentro  da  Noite  or  Vida  Vertigi- 
nosa,  by  “Joao  do  Rio,”  also  social  life  of  the  Cap- 
ital. 

There  are  also  the  finely  written  novels  of  Brazil’s 
woman  writer,  Julia  Lopez  de  Almeida,  whose  Fallencia 
is  a very  skilful  piece  of  work;  and  no  study  of  Brazilian 
life  would  be  complete  without  Jose  Verissimo’s  Scenas 
da  Vida  Amazonica,  preserving  tales  and  legends  of  the 
Amazon,  and  the  kindly  Memorias  da  Rua  do  Ouvidor, 
of  J.  M.  de  Macedo,  telling  tales  of  the  early  days  of 
Rio  de  Janeiro. 

Poets  are  many.  The  “Prince  of  Brazilian  poets,” 
acclaimed  by  public  vote,  is  Olavo  Bilac,  whose  Via 
Lactea  is  a beautiful  work:  he  is  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished members  of  the  Academia  Brasileira,  whose 
President  is  the  publicist  and  orator  of  international 
fame,  Senator  Ruy  Barbosa. 

Olavo  Bilac  is  something  more  than  a poet;  he  has 
recently  made  it  his  mission  to  sound  a “call  to  arms,” 
addressed  to  Brazilian  young  men,  with  the  object  of 
bringing  about  physical  and  moral  improvement 
through  military  service.  His  addresses  in  the  capitals 
in  1915  made  a great  stir:  he  later,  in  the  middle  of 
1916,  began  a tour  of  Brazil,  penetrating  into  interior 
regions  as  well  as  visiting  coast  towns,  to  repeat  his 
appeal.  A most  admired  and  beloved  poet,  Bilac  has 


IOO 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


prestige  which  few  other  people  could  bring  to  such  a 
self-appointed  task. 

After  Bilac  comes  Alberto  de  Oliveira,  and  a long 
list  of  other  dexterous  versifiers;  many  produce  charm- 
ing poems,  and  he  who  wishes  to  have  an  acquaintance 
with  classical  Brazilian  verse  must  read  the  output  of 
Goncalves  Dias,  who  took  the  life  of  the  Indians  for 
his  theme,  as  well  as  that  of  the  lyric  writer  Gonzaga 
and  the  graceful  Claudio  da  Costa. 

Brazil  also  has  a national  stage.  I know  of  no  play 
of  first-class  importance,  but  there  is  an  active  supply 
of  native  Brazilian  actors  and  actresses,  and  if  their 
work  is  generally  that  of  playing  in  the  home-made 
revistas , and  if  these  revistas  are  not  very  high  art,  at 
least  they  are  genuinely  Brazilian,  and  often  extremely 
amusing.  I suppose  that  on  the  stage,  as  in  the  pages 
of  the  Brazilian  press,  there  is  a limit  beyond  which 
the  libel  law  would  become  active,  but  I cannot  ima- 
gine where  it  is  drawn;  the  audience  rocks  with  laughter 
when  well-known  political  personages  are  caricatured 
upon  the  stage — as  they  are  lampooned  in  the  press — 
and  no  notice  appears  to  be  taken  of  whatever  alludes 
to  matters  of  intimate  family  concern.  Nobody  in 
the  public  eye  is  exempt,  and  the  result  is  that  Brazil 
possesses  a lively,  home-made  stage  which  is  at  least  a 
beginning  in  dramatic  craft. 

Brazil  has  an  exuberant  press.  There  is  a large  num- 
ber of  dailies  and  weeklies  in  proportion  to  the  popula- 
tion, many  of  the  smaller  journals  existing  to  serve  the 
purposes  of  some  special  movement,  colony,  or  party, 
and  there  are  many  technical  periodicals  of  varying 
merit.  Grace,  pungency  and  a frequently  merciless 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


IOI 


frankness  are  the  chief  characteristics  of  the  free-lance 
sections  of  the  Brazilian  press,  although  there  are  cer- 
tain staid  and  conservative  journals  whose  dignity 
never  deserts  them.  The  first  of  all  Brazilian  news- 
papers was  a little  sheet  started  in  Rio,  soon  after  the 
arrival  of  Dom  Joao,  by  Frey  Tiburcio;  it  was  prac- 
tically a Court  Journal.  Two  of  its  notable  antagonists 
later  on  were  the  Tamoyo  and  the  Sentinella.  All  of 
these  early  periodicals  died  a natural  death,  the  news- 
paper of  longest  continual  publication  in  Brazil  being 
the  Diario  de  Pernambuco. 

The  premier  newspaper  in  Brazil,  which  is  also  per- 
haps the  best  in  South  America,  although  it  has  a 
formidable  rival  in  the  Argentine,  is  “o  velho,”  the 
famous  Jornal  do  Commercio , the  semi-official,  powerful, 
wealthy,  and  most  excellent  daily  of  Rio,  with  a cir- 
culation all  over  Brazil  and  reaching  out  as  well  to  most 
parts  of  the  educated  world.  It  is  a great  paper  in  all 
senses  of  the  word,  is  finely  printed — this  great  sheet, 
often  with  thirty-two  and  sometimes  eighty  big  pages, 
eight  columns  wide,  printed  in  a language  requiring  the 
“til,”  “cedilla,”  acute  and  circumflex  accents,  con- 
stantly employed,  comes  out  day  after  day  almost 
without  any  typographical  errors.  Its  reviews  of  com- 
mercial affairs  are  made  with  authority;  it  is  remark- 
able for  having  no  editorials,  anything  that  needs  to  be 
said  editorially  appearing  in  the  “Varias  Noticias ;” 
months  may  pass  without  this  column  containing  more 
than  chronicles  of  official  acts  and  movements,  but 
when  the  Jornal  is  moved  to  speak  its  voice  comes  in 
no  uncertain  tone.  Its  denunciations  and  pronounce- 
ments are  discussed  like  a Papal  Edict  in  the  Middle 
Ages. 


102 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


Anyone  who  reads  the  Jornal  day  by  day,  with  its 
pages  of  European  telegrams,  its  excellent  letters  from 
world  capitals,  its  fine  literary  and  political  essays,  its 
Publica(oes  a pedido  where  every  kind  of  public  or 
private  matter  is  thrashed  out,  often  to  the  great  enter- 
tainment of  the  reader,  knows  everything  that  is  going 
on  in  Brazil,  is  well  up  in  European  news,  but  will  hear 
only  faint  echoes  coming  from  North  America  and 
these  as  a rule  only  when  some  distinguished  Bra- 
zilian happens  to  be  travelling  there,  and  cables  are 
sent  south  dealing  with  his  sayings  and  doings.  When 
I have  enquired  the  reason  for  this  lack  of  news  from 
North  America  the  reply  has  generally  been  that  the 
news  services  are  responsible:  that  the  arrangements 
made  with  certain  European  agencies  cannot  be  dupli- 
cated. It  seems  as  if  this  is  a matter  needing  thoughtful 
attention,  for  it  is  obvious  that  the  Brazilian  cannot 
be  so  deeply  interested  in  a country  about  which  he 
hears  practically  nothing  as  about  others  which  present 
even  trivial  domestic  news  to  him  in  long  cables  every 
day.  The  same  lack  occurs,  of  course,  in  the  United 
States  in  regard  to  Brazil;  if  accurate,  frequent  infor- 
mation were  disseminated  we  should  not  read  that  “in 
the  states  of  Parana  and  Santa  Catarina,  in  Brazil,  the 
entire  population  subsists  on  bananas  as  food  and  are 
famous  for  their  strength  and  endurance,”  or  that  (an 
item  of  early  October,  1916)  “the  Brazilian  coffee  crop 
is  estimated  at  11,000,000  bags,  the  greatest  ever  har- 
vested and  three  million  bags  bigger  than  last  year’s 
crop,”  nor  should  we  see  the  “Girl  from  Brazil”  repre- 
sented upon  a New  York  stage  dressed,  and  comport- 
ing herself,  much  like  a Carmen,  and  speaking  Spanish; 
or  read  tales  repeated  in  the  press  of  the  “little  republic 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


103 


of  Coanani”  near  the  Guiana  boundary  in  Brazil  which 
has  “sent  its  army  to  fight  on  the  side  of  the  Allies.” 
With  the  United  States  as  Brazil’s  best  customer,  and, 
at  least  for  the  present,  Brazil’s  greatest  supplier,  there 
should  be  better  channels  of  interchange  not  only  of 
information  but  ideas;  there  should  be  room  for  a 
Brazilian  journal  in  New  York — there  is  one  in  Paris — 
and  for  a Bureau  of  Information  with  exhibits,  some- 
thing on  the  lines  of  the  existing  Bureau  in  the  French 
capital,  where  Brazilian  hardwoods,  cotton,  precious 
stones,  fibres,  ores,  etc.,  are  on  view.  The  Pan-Amer- 
ican Union,  as  well  as  other  organizations  and  publica- 
tions with  the  Pan-American  object  in  view,  do  sincere 
and  arduous  work  which  has  borne  much  industrial 
and  social  fruit,  but  their  labours  are  necessarily  spread 
over  a great  field:  nor  can  Consuls  do  everything,  how- 
ever energetic.  Brazilian  interchange  with  North 
America  is  quite  important  and  promising  enough  to 
merit  a special  news  service. 

Other  strong  Brazilian  newspapers  published  in 
Rio  are  0 Paiz , 0 Impartial,  0 Correio  da  Manha 
issued  in  the  morning,  with  a host,  including  A Pla- 
te a,  A Tarde,  0 Nolle  and  the  afternoon  edition 
of  the  Jornal  do  Commercio,  issued  any  time  after 
mid-day:  the  latter  has  had  a wonderful  war-review 
series  of  articles  running  since  1914.  Very  many  papers 
of  the  Brazilian  press,  like  the  major  part  of  the  non- 
German  Brazilian  people,  are  strongly  pro-Ally,  and 
particularly  pro-French,  and  have  no  hesitation  in  de- 
claring their  feelings,  as  witness  the  “Liga  Brasileira 
pelos  Alliados”  formed  by  some  of  the  foremost  men 
of  the  country,  but  in  the  case  of  the  war  articles  of 
the  afternoon  Jornal  there  was  a serious  attempt  at 


104 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


impartiality.  It  was  possible  thus  to  read  first  a 
criticism  of  the  war-telegrams  of  the  day  showing  that 
a distinct  advantage  had  accrued  to  the  Allies,  while 
printed  just  below  would  be  another  analysis  by  a 
second  contributor,  demonstrating  that  the  news  was 
distinctly  favourable  to  the  Teutonic  forces. 

Also  published  in  Rio  are  many  technical  papers, 
medical  and  engineering  periodicals,  etc.,  and  some 
of  the  gay  illustrated  weeklies  of  very  free  speech, 
as  0 Malho,  A Car  eta,  Fon-Fon;  also  the  Revista 
da  Semana , a society  paper.  There  are  French, 
Italian  and  German  papers,  but  the  great  home  of  a 
polyglot  press  is  Sao  Paulo,  with  its  groups  of  immi- 
grants. Here  the  oldest  Brazilian  paper  is  the  Correio 
Paulistano,  sixty  years  established,  a daily  morning 
paper;  another  in  the  same  class  and  perhaps  the  most 
widely  read  is  the  Estado  de  Sao  Paulo,  while  the 
Commercio  de  Sao  Paulo  1 also  has  a high  reputation. 
The  Estado  runs  an  afternoon  edition,  and  there  are 
many  other  evening  papers — the  Diario  Popular,  Naqao , 
Gazeta,  etc.  For  the  Italian  population  there  is  the 
daily  morning  Fanfulla,  the  afternoon  Giornale  degli 
Italiani  and  the  weekly  Italiano.  Germans  have  the 
morning  Diario  Alemao  and  the  weekly  Germania.  Two 
French  weeklies  seem  to  do  well,  the  Messager  de  S. 
Paul,  and  the  Courrier  Frangais.  There  is  a Spanish 
Diario  Espanol,  two  Turkish  papers,  and  in  the  colonies 
outside  the  city  there  are  said  to  be  Russian  and  Japanese 
sheets  published.  The  city  of  S.  Paulo  counts  eighty 
journals,  the  State  counting  over  two  hundred  dailies 
and  weeklies. 

1 Bought  by  the  Rio  Jornal  do  Commercio  company  at  end  of  1916  and 
now  published  as  the  Jornal  do  Commercio  de  Sao  Paulo. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


105 


Rio  and  S.  Paulo  are  the  two  chief  literary  centres, 
but  every  town  of  any  size  in  Brazil  has  its  newspaper. 
Of  these  perhaps  the  most  important  are  the  Per- 
nambuco papers;  the  Diario  de  Pernambuco , already 
mentioned,  bears  the  proud  inscription  of  its  age  in 
conspicuous  lettering  on  the  front  of  its  building  in  a 
square  in  Recife;  it  is  a very  good  paper,  and  so  is 
the  Jornal  do  Recife , among  several  other  daily  sheets. 
Bahia  has  the  Diario  de  Bahia  and  Diario  de  Noticias, 
amongst  others,  and  the  State  Press  here  also  pub- 
lishes daily  an  excellent  Diario  Official. 

Para  has  quite  a variety  of  papers,  the  Estado  de 
Para  and  the  Folha  do  Norte  probably  the  two  most 
powerful.  Manaos  also  supports  several  newspapers, 
of  which  the  Jornal  do  Commercio  and  0 Tempo  appear 
to  be  most  widely  read. 

Many  imported  foreign  periodicals  have  a ready  sale 
in  Brazil,  as  the  French  L'  Illustration,  many  Portuguese 
publications,  and  the  Blanco  y Negro  of  Madrid;  nearly 
all  the  English  serious  reviews  and  illustrated  weeklies 
are  sold,  and  there  is  an  increasing  demand  for  illus- 
trated North  American  periodicals  of  good  class.  Al- 
together Brazil  has  a remarkably  cosmopolitan  class  of 
readers  and  therefore  a cosmopolitan  press. 

Almost  all  the  Brazilian  authors  of  note  have,  at  one 
time  or  another,  contributed  to  the  great  Jornal  do 
Commercio;  this  is  really  the  cradle  of  much  fine 
writing.  Founded  in  1827,  it  is  today  housed  in  a 
splendid  building  on  the  corner  of  the  famous  Rua  do 
Ouvidor  and  the  Avenida  Rio  Branco,  the  building  and 
press  equipment  costing  over  half  a million  dollars. 

Linked  with  the  life  of  the  Jornal  for  the  last  twenty- 


106  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

five  years  is  that  of  Jose  Carlos  Rodrigues,  Director 
from  1890  until  his  retirement  in  1915;  a great  student 
and  great  organizer,  possessed  of  international  prestige, 
Jose  Carlos  was  the  moving  spirit  of  the  newspaper  for  a 
generation.  He  is  one  of  the  eminent  figures  in  modern 
Brazilian  life.  At  seventy-two  years  of  age  he  is  com- 
pleting his  Vida  de  Jesus , fruit  of  long  years  of  research. 

Jose  Carlos  Rodrigues  is  one  of  the  constructive  Bra- 
zilians. There  have  been  many  others,  as  the  great 
Andrada  brothers,  Campos  Salles,  the  Visconde  de 
Rio  Branco  and  his  son,  the  Barao;  Varnhagen  (Vis- 
conde de  Porto  Seguro),  politician  and  historian;  Joa- 
quim  Nabuco,  writer,  ambassador,  and  instigator  of 
slavery  abolition — as  were  also  several  fine  men  still 
alive,  as  Rodrigues  Alves,  the  great  Paulista. 

Of  modern  Brazilians  to  whom  the  country  owes  a 
debt  there  are  none  with  more  claim  to  gratitude  than 
Dr.  Oswaldo  Cruz,  who  banished  yellow  fever  from 
coast  towns  once  notorious  for  their  unhealthiness,  and 
Colonel  Rondon,  who  has  devoted  his  life  to  the  opening 
up  of  the  Brazilian  interior,  and  besides  mapping, 
charting,  and  creating  telegraphic  communication 
throughout  the  hinterlands  of  Matto  Grosso,  has 
brought  whole  tribes  of  wild  Indians  into  civilized  ways 
of  living. 

Among  the  elements  which  comprise  and  influence 
Brazilian  social  conditions,  that  of  the  Portuguese  of 
course  stands  first,  for  as  Ruy  Barbosa  said  the  other 
day,  “Americans  are  descendants  not  of  Apaches,  but 
of  Anglo-Saxons;  not  of  Guaranis,  but  of  Latins.”  The 
Indian  admixture  has  left  little  traceable  influence  but 
that  of  physical  hardihood.  The  extreme  south  of 
Brazil,  as  we  have  already  seen,  has  had  during  the 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


107 


last  century  an  enormous  influx  of  European  white 
blood  other  than  Portuguese,  chiefly  Italian  and  Ger- 
manic, while  all  the  large  coast  cities  are  noticeably 
impregnated  with  more  or  less  foreign  elements.  In 
the  interior  of  the  northern  promontory  a noticeable 
feature  is  the  blonde  average  of  the  population,  partly 
an  inheritance  from  the  days  of  Dutch  control  and 
partly  from  that  of  French  settlement.  Among  the 
groups  of  unhappy  retirantes  from  the  drought  districts, 
encountered  in  the  streets  of  Para  and  Manaos,  waiting 
for  shelter  and  work,  there  are  often  to  be  seen  people 
with  fair  hair  and  blue  eyes  who  might  have  come 
direct  from  Amsterdam  or  Brittany. 

On  the  coastal  belt  of  the  lower  half  of  the  northern 
promontory  there  is  another  very  strong  admixture, 
that  of  the  negro.  Frequently  the  Brazilian  shakes  his 
head  over  this  element,  but  occasionally  the  cudgels  are 
taken  up  in  its  defence.  The  author  Sylvio  Romero  says 
frankly  that  the  European  was  not,  in  early  colonial 
days,  “strong  enough  to  repel  the  native  savage  and 
cultivate  the  soil,  and  so  resorted  to  that  powerful 
auxiliary,  the  negro  of  Africa  . . . the  ally  of  the  white 
men.”  He  calls  the  negro  “a  robust  civilizing  element,” 
and  says  that  from  the  close  association  of  slavery 
sprang  the  mixed-blood  descendants,  who  constitute 
today  “the  mass  of  our  population  and  the  chief  beauty 
of  our  race.” 

“Still  today,”  he  declares,  “the  most  beautiful  fem- 
inine types  are  these  agile,  strong,  brown-skinned  girls 
with  black  eyes  and  hair,  in  whose  veins  run,  although 
well  diluted,  many  drops  of  African  blood.  . . . The 
coast  of  Africa  civilized  Brazil,  said  one  of  our  states- 
men, and  he  spoke  truth;  the  negro  has  influenced  all 


io8  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

our  intimate  life  and  many  of  our  customs  are  trans- 
mitted from  him.  It  is  sufficient  to  remember  that  the 
only  genuine  Brazilian  cooking,  the  cozinha  bahiana,  is 
entirely  African.  Many  of  our  dances,  songs  and 
popular  music,  a whole  literature  of  ardent  outpourings, 
have  this  origin.  It  is  unfortunate  that  this  energetic 
race  should  have  suffered  the  brand  of  slavery;  we 
should  make  a vow  to  revindicate  its  place  in  our  his- 
tory. There  are  means  of  utilizing  the  negro  without 
degrading  him.” 

Sylvio  Romero  adds  that  “all  the  first-class  people  of 
Brazil  have  white  blood,  either  pure  or  mingled  with 
that  of  another  race,”  but  that  the  white  element  should 
do  justice  to  the  degree  to  which  the  black  has  been  a 
mental,  political,  economic  and  social  factor.  He 
traces,  in  a little  book  of  which  I found  a stray  copy  on  a 
bookstall  in  Manaos  market,  the  negro  element  in  the 
folklore  of  Brazil  ( Contos  Popular es,  Rio  de  Janeiro)  as 
well  as  that  of  the  native  Indian,  and  makes  the  point 
that  both  Indian  and  negro  are  “inarticulate”  in  Bra- 
zilian society,  except  through  the  medium  of  a language 
foreign  to  their  ideas,  Portuguese,  which  has  undoubtedly 
coloured  their  mental  expression.  These  Folk-tales  of 
Sylvio  Romero’s  collection,  as  well  as  those  preserved 
by  Couto  de  Magalhaes  in  his  Selvagem , are  delightful 
tales,  many  hinging  upon  the  adventures  of  various  wild 
animals,  and  frequently  displaying  a decided  streak  of 
humour  not  unlike  that  of  the  “Uncle  Remus”  negro 
tales  of  North  America. 

At  least  one  negro  poet  of  Brazil  has  a claim  to  fame — 
Cruz  e Souza;  the  sculptor  Pinheiro  was  also  chiefly  of 
African  blood ; Jose  de  Patrocinio,  who  worked  hard 
for  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  stood  by  the  chair  of 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


109 


Princess  Isabel  when  she  signed  the  decree  of  freedom, 
was  an  able  and  eloquent  negro  writer.  Altogether,  the 
debt  of  Brazil  to  the  strong  African  races  appears  to  be 
quite  as  important,  if  not  much  more  so,  than  that  owed 
to  the  Tupi-Guarani  and  other  “Indian”  tribes  of 
native  Brazil.  Fleeing  from  before  the  hard  hand  of 
the  white  man,  the  Indian  as  a separate  social  element 
has  disappeared  from  those  parts  of  Brazil  brought  into 
touch  with  modern  life. 

This  native  Brazilian,  the  “Indian”  of  the  coasts, 
inland  plains,  and  forest-bordered  rivers  who  lived  in 
the  country  before  Portuguese  possession,  has  left  no 
traces  of  civilization  comparable  with  that  of  the  Incas 
or  pre-Incas  of  the  north-west  of  South  America,  or  with 
the  culture  of  the  Maya  of  Central  America  and  their 
pupils  and  conquerors,  the  Aztecs.  Only  in  the  north, 
along  the  Amazonian  river  highway  connecting  with 
Peru  are  there  remains  of  ceramic  art,  and  survivals  of 
weaving  skill,  which  denote  marked  attainments  by  a 
people  with  settled  homes  and  defined  social  habits. 

The  Museo  Goldi  at  Para  is  full  of  good  pottery,  some 
fairly  modern,  and  much  dug  from  burial  grounds  on  the 
great  island  of  Marajo  at  the  mouth  of  the  Amazon; 
Marajo  has  a lake  which  in  turn  shelters  an  island  which 
has  proved  a mine  for  the  archaeologist — and  none  too 
respectfully  treated,  unfortunately,  by  some  recent 
excavators,  who  seem  to  have  been  more  occupied  in 
acquiring  loot  than  in  making  historical  records.  This 
island  in  the  lake  appears  to  have  served  for  a burial 
ground  of  tribes  with  social  customs  of  a distinct  type; 
many  of  the  funerary  urns  are  large  enough  to  contain 
an  entire  human  body,  and  some  are  of  good  artistic 
design;  there  is  a very  noticeable  resemblance  between 


I IO 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


certain  of  these  Marajo  pottery  specimens,  especially 
the  smaller  jars  and  domestic  vessels,  and  ceramics 
found  in  Colombia  and  Southern  Central  America. 

To  the  present  day  the  Amazon  Indians  have  pre- 
served their  skill  in  weaving  native  fibres;  hammocks 
made  of  delicate  threads,  fine  as  lace  and  beautifully 
prepared,  are  ornamented  with  elaborate  feather  de- 
vices worked  in  with  the  fibres.  They  are  sold  on  the 
Amazon  for  prices  reaching  several  hundred  milreis. 
Both  the  Museum  in  Para  and  that  in  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
begun  by  Dom  Pedro  and  housed  in  his  one-time  palace, 
contain  beautiful  specimens  of  Indian  feather  work,  the 
exquisite  pinks,  blues  and  greens  of  Brazilian  birds 
lending  themselves  to  the  gay  effect.  Allied  in  race, 
apparently,  to  handsome,  stocky  natives  of  British 
Guiana,  the  Amazon  Indian  often  has  a skin  of  a 
cinnamon  tint,  is  physically  strong  so  long  as  he  is  not 
called  upon  for  regular  and  confined  labour,  is  a good 
waterman  and  archer,  and  is  not  inimical  while  he  is 
allowed  to  remain  undisturbed  in  his  forests.  If  it 
were  not  necessary  to  enlist  his  help  or  enter  his  re- 
treats, his  effect  upon  Brazilian  modern  social  condi- 
tions would  be  nil;  there  was  a time  when  Indian  blood 
and  labour  were  forcibly  brought  into  service,  but  that 
period  is  past,  although  the  effect  of  the  former  survives 
in  the  fortifying  of  much  Portuguese  blood.  The  hardy 
mixture  that  resulted  was  able  to  withstand  a trying 
climate  as  a pure  European  race  probably  could  not 
have  done. 

Farther  south  the  Indian  seems  to  have  been  of  a 
different  origin,  whose  cradle  is  assigned  by  some 
scientists  to  Paraguay,  and  who  are  identified  with  the 
fierce  Caribs,  invaders  of  the  West  Indian  islands  and 


Igapo  near  the  Rio  Negro,  Amazonas. 
Caripuna  Indians,  on  the  Madeira  River. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


hi 


destroyers  of  the  gentle  aborigines  of  those  shores  be- 
fore the  Spanish  came.  No  pottery  remains  are  found 
in  the  south  as  in  the  north;  these  tribes  seem  to  have 
been  nomadic  in  tendency,  cultivators  of  no  arts  that 
have  left  traces,  builders  of  but  light  and  temporary 
dwellings,  living  upon  few  foods  and  those  obtained 
chiefly  by  hunting.  The  chief  articles  cultivated  were 
mandioca  and  maize,  the  forests  yielding  wild  fruits  and 
nuts.  There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  the  majority,  if 
not  all,  of  these  natives  were  given  to  cannibal  feasts, 
but  in  some  cases  the  act  was  ceremonial  and  in  others 
was  confined  to  enemies  of  the  tribe.  Apart  from  these 
propensities  the  native  appears  to  have  been  a gen- 
tle and  even  timid  creature,  endowed  with  simple 
good  sense,  and  quite  a man  of  his  word.  With  the 
Portuguese  settler  he  was  almost  always  at  logger- 
heads,  but  the  French  knew  well  how  to  make  a valuable 
and  faithful  ally  of  him,  loyal  supplier  of  food  and 
shelter  in  the  darkest  day  of  the  French  attempt  at 
colonization  both  north  and  south;  the  Jesuit  priests, 
too,  who  followed  the  Indians  into  the  wilderness  were 
able  to  make  quiet  converts  out  of  them,  and  to  train 
them  to  domesticity.  Since  the  Jesuits’  work  was  de- 
stroyed and  the  missionaries  themselves  expelled  from 
the  country  the  Indian  has  been  practically  let  alone; 
withdrawn  socially,  his  part  in  Brazilian  life  has  been  a 
silent  one.  He  has  been  still  living  in  the  Stone  Age. 
He  never  knew  and  has  not  adopted  the  use  of  metal, 
erected  no  stone  or  other  permanent  buildings  of  any 
kind,  and  set  up  no  temples  to  his  gods.  Idea  of  a deity 
was  to  many  tribes  represented  by  Tupan,  a being 
somewhat  resembling  the  North  American’s  “Great 
Spirit;”  medicine  men,  called  pages , performed  and  still 


1 1 2 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


perform,  wonders  and  enchantments  to  cure  the  sick. 
When  Prince  Adalbert  of  Prussia  went  up  the  Amazon 
in  1843  he  was  able  to  see  one  of  these  wizards  at  work 
upon  a sick  man,  and  himself  complained  of  a pain  in 
his  arm,  asking  the  page  to  cure  it;  the  spot  was  rubbed 
with  unguents,  covered  with  leaves,  exorcisms  were 
made,  and  at  last  the  page  blowing  upon  the  arm  freed 
a butterfly  and  declared  that  this  was  the  disappearing 
pain;  the  European  onlookers  said  that  it  was  a marvel 
that  the  wizard  had  been  able  to  go  through  such  a per- 
formance with  the  butterfly  concealed  in  his  mouth: 
evidently  these  are  quite  good  conjurers.  It  is  not  un- 
known for  the  position  of  page  to  be  offered  to  a dis- 
tinguished foreigner:  I heard  on  the  Amazon  of  a 
German  doctor,  whose  cures  had  won  the  confidence  of  a 
remote  tribe,  receiving  this  curious  honour. 

The  only  man  of  modern  times  who  has  had  con- 
tinued success  with  the  native  of  the  interior  is  that 
great  Brazilian,  Colonel  Candido  Rondon:  in  his  work 
of  constructing  telegraphs  and  roads  and  mapping  and 
surveying  in  the  vast  sertoes  of  Matto  Grosso,  Rondon 
has  laboured  for  twenty-five  years  to  win  over  the  timid 
and  hostile  Indians.  He  has  so  far  succeeded  that  not 
only  do  they  now  refrain  from  destroying  his  lines  and 
stations,  but  have  been  trained  to  the  service  of  the 
Commission  which  Rondon  heads,  guarding  the  posts 
and  cultivating  fields  in  their  neighbourhood  for  the 
supply  of  the  engineers.  In  1915  a series  of  moving 
picture  films  were  shown  in  Brazilian  cities,  made  on 
the  route  of  the  Commission’s  work,  and  showing  in- 
teresting pictures  of  Parecis,  Nhambiquaras,  and 
other  Indian  tribes  friendly  to  the  invaders  of  their 
interior  regions;  they  are  frequently  fine-looking,  well- 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


113 

developed,  sturdy  people,  very  well  worth  saving 
among  the  world’s  races. 

All  over  the  Americas  the  question  of  the  fate  of  the 
native  is  a painful  one.  In  North  America,  both  in 
Canada  and  the  United  States,  he  has  diminished  with 
extraordinary  rapidity  even  when  wars  have  ceased; 
contact  with  the  white  man  seems  to  be  fatal  to  him. 
It  is  only  of  late,  since  he  ceased  to  be  a physical  danger, 
that  conscience  has  been  aroused  on  his  behalf  and 
efforts  made  to  retain  the  survivals.  Farther  south  the 
Aztec  is  still  holding  his  own,  a hardy  race  living  its 
own  life  yet  and  able  to  preserve  customs  and  wide  land 
spaces.  In  Central  America  the  only  marked  group  of 
pure  race  is  the  gentle  Guatemalan  Maya,  almost  en- 
slaved but  still  living  the  life  of  the  sixteenth  century 
in  the  uplands : when  taken  to  work  in  the  lowlands,  he 
dies. 

In  Peru  the  natives  are  still  a strong  tough  mountain 
people:  Ecuador,  Bolivia  and  Chile  also  have  incor- 
porated the  Indian  into  the  industrial  life  of  the  coun- 
try; from  the  Argentine  he  has  practically  disappeared, 
the  face  of  the  land  occupied  by  restless,  industrial 
strangers,  while  he  has  no  place  in  statistics  or  in  cal- 
culations affecting  the  progress  of  the  country.  He  is 
no  more  a factor  than  the  North  American  Indian  is  a 
factor  in  the  United  States. 

Is  he  to  suffer  a similar  fate  in  Brazil?  Not  yet,  for 
his  numbers  are  large  and  he  still  occupies  great  tracts 
of  the  vast  hinterlands.  There  is,  too,  a lively  public 
sentiment  on  the  subject  of  the  Indian  in  Brazil,  states- 
men and  writers  frequently  calling  attention  to  the 
problem.  Spaces  in  Brazil  are  so  enormous  that  it 
will  be  many  a generation  before  any  question  arises  of 


1 14  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

intrusion  upon  Indian  retreats,  and  perhaps  by  that 
time  an  extension  of  the  methods  of  Rondon  will  have 
divested  him  of  fear  of  civilization. 

It  cannot,  however,  be  imagined  that  the  native  of 
Brazil  will  supply  the  labour  needed  to  develop  great 
interior  regions;  he  is  not  willing  to  work  at  given  tasks 
at  appointed  times  and  to  maintain  such  work  day  by 
day.  He  is  probably  not  physically  fitted  for  such 
tasks.  When,  seduced  by  agents  during  rubber  booms, 
he  has  been  bribed  into  working  at  the  systematic 
gathering  of  goma,  he  has  failed  and  died  in  too  many 
instances;  only  when  his  blood  is  mingled  with  that  of 
another  race,  and  the  caboclo  produced,  is  the  child  of 
the  selvagem  able  to  take  his  place  in  the  industrial 
world. 

With  the  suggestion  that  the  Indian  should  be 
strengthened  by  admixtures  of  introduced  Asiatics, 
on  the  score  that  the  Oriental  and  the  native  of  Brazil 
are  already  akin,  I have  scant  patience.  A tilt  of  the 
eyelids  seen  in  some  Central  and  South  American  na- 
tives has  been  the  chief  basis  of  a number  of  fantastic 
theories  generally  pre-supposing  the  passage  of  large 
numbers  of  Chinese  immigrants  by  way  of  the  Behring 
Strait;  difficulties  are  brushed  away  with  an  easy  hand 
by  enthusiasts  of  this  idea,  but  to  ignore  them  is, 
as  T.  A.  Joyce  says,  to  ignore  the  value  of  scientific 
evidence.  It  is  just  as  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
China  or  Japan  or  both  were  colonized  from  South 
America  as  to  insist  on  the  reverse  movement,  but  as 
a matter  of  fact  the  division  is  so  extreme  on  the  very 
points  where  resemblances  should  exist — in  language 
roots,  social  customs,  arts  and  food,  and  religion — that 
discussion  of  the  question  appears  futile.  It  may  be 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


ii5 

taken  for  granted  that  oriental  immigration  and  mixing 
will  not  be  accepted  by  Brazilians  as  the  solution  to 
the  Indian  problem;  like  many  another  Brazilian 
problem,  it  will  be  solved  from  within. 

Education  in  Brazil  for  the  masses  of  the  people  has 
Deen  the  subject  of  serious  consideration  and  effort 
for  the  last  fifty  years.  Government  schools  in  the  care 
of  the  separate  States  differ  widely  in  varying  latitudes, 
both  in  quantity  and  quality,  and  problems  depend 
largely  upon  the  origin  of  the  population.  The  Italian 
immigrants  of  Sao  Paulo  are  obviously  not  in  the  same 
class  as  pupils  as  the  negroes  of  Bahia  State  or  the  three- 
quarter  Indians  of  Amazonas,  nor  can  States  with  few 
exports  and  small  revenues  spend  a corresponding 
amount  on  education  with  rich  and  expanding  regions. 

Sao  Paulo  is  in  the  matter  of  public  schools,  as  in 
commerce,  the  leader  State;  she  is  a wealthy  State,  and 
she  has  not  hesitated  to  spend  enormous  sums  on  all 
kinds  of  public  works,  whether  roads,  water-supply, 
railways,  drainage — or  school  buildings  and  service. 
The  Director  of  Public  Instruction,  Dr.  Joao  Chrisos- 
tomo,  in  speeches  and  writings  shows  that  he  has  a very 
clear  idea  of  the  object  of  modern  schooling,  to  train  a 
healthy  mind  in  a healthy  body.  Medical  and  dental 
attendance  upon  the  children  is  regularly  carried  out 
in  the  Paulista  schools,  teachers  are  trained  in  an  ex- 
cellently equipped  and  managed  Normal  School,  and 
buildings  have  been  multiplied  until  there  is  today  a 
school  for  every  fourteen  hundred  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  Sao  Paulo  state.  The  task  of  educating 
the  children  of  the  working  population  is  a more  dif- 
ficult one  in  the  agricultural  districts,  but  every  good 
coffee  fazenda  has  its  school.  Sao  Paulo  has  made 


n6 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


special  efforts  to  bring  new  immigrants  into  touch  with 
Brazilian  conditions  by  establishing  a series  of  night 
schools  where  Portuguese  is  taught,  together  with 
Brazilian  history  and  geography;  the  writer  once  visited 
a school  of  this  kind  and  saw  Italians,  Syrians,  Greeks 
and  a Japanese,  all  adults,  learning  earnestly  in  the 
same  room. 

Not  all  of  the  Brazilian  States  have  as  much  money 
to  spare  as  Sao  Paulo,  but  the  framework,  and  much  of 
the  real  building  and  equipment,  of  a satisfactory 
public  school  system  exists  in  every  section  of  the 
country.  Feminine  professional  education  has  made  a 
certain  start,  and  the  writer  has  rarely  seen  a more 
promising,  and  handsome,  group  of  young  women  than 
the  students  of  a normal  school  in  Para.  Many  Bra- 
zilian cities  take  pride  in  their  professional  and  tech- 
nical colleges,  some  of  very  old  foundation,  as  that  of 
the  School  of  Law  of  Pernambuco,  the  School  of  Medi- 
cine of  Bahia,  the  Polytechnic  School  of  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
and  the  School  of  Law  of  Sao  Paulo. 

Religious  scholastic  institutions  are  many,  several  of 
the  great  Orders,  such  as  the  Benedictines,  Franciscans, 
and  of  course  the  Jesuits,  maintaining  splendid,  large, 
and  wealthy  colleges.  Convents  for  girls  are  also  of 
first-class  importance  in  the  Brazilian  educational  field, 
the  Sacred  Heart  institutions  taking  thousands  of  girls, 
and  apparently  giving  them  a good  training.  In  Sao 
Paulo  there  are  several  schools  of  Italian  origin;  there  is 
a popular  French  Lycee  in  Rio;  the  American  Macken- 
zie College  in  Sao  Paulo,  founded  by  Dr.  Horace  Lane, 
is  a fine  institution  doing  good  work — possessing  a 
kindergarten  branch  for  young  children  as  well  as  upper 
grade  classes  and  technical  courses;  and  there  is  a series 


Agricultural  School  at  Piracicaba,  S.  Paulo  State. 

Maintained  by  the  State  Government;  teaches  scientific  agriculture,  conducts 
chemical  experiments  and  maintains  a splendid  demonstration  farm. 
Director,  Dr.  Emilio  Castello. 

The  Butantan  Institute,  S.  Paulo  City. 

The  Instituto  Serumtherapico  do  Estado  de  Sdo  Paulo  is  maintained  by  the  State 
Government.  Several  thousand  poisonous  snakes  are  kept  here  in  the  Ser- 
pentario  and  from  them  venom  is  extracted  and  injected  into  horses;  the 
resulting  serum  is  prepared  as  an  antidote  for  snakebite,  and  is  distributed 
all  over  Brazil.  The  Director  is  Dr.  Vital  Brasil. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


117 

of  excellent  and  popular  schools  known  as  the  Gym- 
nasio  Anglo-Brazileiro.  The  first  of  these  was  started  in 
1899  by  an  Englishman,  Mr.  Charles  W.  Armstrong,  in 
Sao  Paulo,  for  boys;  subsequently  a beautiful  property 
was  acquired  among  the  woods  on  the  lower  slopes  of 
the  Dois  Irmaos  mountain  just  outside  Rio,  and  a sec- 
ond school  opened  there,  followed  in  1913  by  the 
foundation  of  a school  for  girls  on  the  slopes  of  the 
Gavea.  Sixty-two  per  cent  of  the  pupils  are  Brazilians, 
who  seem  to  take  to  the  healthy  open-air  games  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  with  a great  deal  of  appreciation. 

The  more  southerly  colonies  have  their  own  schools, 
generally  taught  in  their  own  languages;  the  only 
criticism  of  this  retention  of  the  immigrants’  tongue  and 
ideas  that  I have  ever  heard  in  Brazil  made  itself 
known  at  the  time  when  rumours  were  freely  repeated  of 
plots  in  the  German  settlements  of  Rio  Grande  do  Sul, 
soon  after  the  outbreak  of  war  in  Europe,  and  which 
were  strengthened  by  von  Tannenberg’s  book  on  Ger- 
man expansion,  which  discussed  the  annexation  of  South 
Brazil,  Uruguay  and  Argentina.  Brazilian  newspapers 
ran  stories  dealing  with  the  possibility  of  German  naval 
victories  being  followed  by  the  occupation  of  Rio 
Grande  and  the  use  of  the  Lagoa  dos  Patos  as  a base  for 
vessels,  and  while  the  defeat  of  Admiral  von  Spee  off 
the  Falkland  Islands  disposed  of  such  a plan  if  it  ever 
existed,  the  suggestion  drew  the  attention  of  many 
formerly  indifferent  people  to  the  self-centred  life  of 
some  of  the  German  colonies.  It  was  complained  that 
nothing  but  the  German  language  was  taught  in  the 
schools,  that  public  notices  and  records  were  issued  in 
German,  and  the  German  ideal  held  before  the  people 
to  the  exclusion  of  any  other.  The  matter  was  very 


n8 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


warmly  argued,  the  colonists  scouting,  and  with  a show 
of  reason,  any  evil  intention;  it  is  hardly  to  be  supposed 
that  any  sane  person  could  plan  the  deliverance  of  a 
piece  of  South  American  territory  to  a foreign  power, 
with  the  surrounding  republics,  not  to  speak  of  Brazil 
herself,  looking  quietly  on.  But  so  much  feeling  was 
expressed  that  the  Governor  of  Rio  Grande  thought  it 
well  to  announce  new  introductions  of  the  Portuguese 
language  into  schools.  As  a matter  of  fact  the  Italians 
in  Rio  Grande  out-number  the  inhabitants  of  German 
blood,  few  of  whom  are  German  born;  emigration  to 
Brazil  was  forbidden  by  the  German  Government  in 
the  year  1859,  after  some  eighty  thousand  people  had 
settled:  the  survivors  with  their  descendants  are  said 
today  to  number  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand.  Liv- 
ing as  they  have  chiefly  done,  in  isolated  towns,  it  would 
be  strange  if  they  had  acquired  any  habits  and  customs 
other  than  those  of  their  European  fathers;  they  speak 
German  for  the  same  reasons  that  they  sleep  on  feather 
beds,  brew  beer,  plant  gardens  and  build  comfortable 
houses. 

The  sweeping  charge  that  South  America  is  a land  of 
revolutions  is  made  so  often  and  so  lightly  that  few 
people  stop  to  consider  the  record  of  the  vastly  different 
countries  comprising  the  area  below  Panama.  When 
the  writer  has  remarked — outside  Brazil — that  Brazil 
has  never  as  a whole  had  any  blood-stained  revolution, 
the  statement  has  been  received  with  looks  of  polite 
incredulity,  and  yet  it  is  true.  Prior  to  separation  from 
Portugal  a few  local,  factional  feuds  occurred,  as  in 
Pernambuco  when  the  natives  quarrelled  with  the  petty 
merchant  Portuguese,  and  in  Minas  when  the  Paulistas 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


119 

fought  the  men  of  other  states  for  claims  to  the  gold 
mines,  but  there  was  no  more  serious  internal  disturb- 
ance. Independence  from  Portugal  was  achieved 
almost  without  bloodshed,  by  force  of  a proclamation: 
the  end  of  the  monarchy  and  establishment  of  a re- 
public was  attained  peacefully. 

After  the  republican  regime  began  there  was  occa- 
sional trouble,  a mere  candle  flicker  compared  to  the 
republican  bonfires  in  neighbour  states,  the  insurgents  of 
Rio  Grande  giving  trouble  for  some  years;  there  were 
two  revolts  by  the  navy,  of  a not  too  creditable  kind. 
In  none  of  these  were  the  Brazilian  people  deeply  con- 
cerned, nor  did  they  affect  the  government  of  the  coun- 
try. No  Viceroy  of  Brazil,  no  King  and  no  President, 
has  been  assassinated  in  the  history  of  the  country. 

External  troubles,  excluding  the  fights  for  twenty- 
four  years  to  expel  the  Dutch  from  Pernambuco,  are 
limited  to  two,  with  neighbours  in  the  south;  the  first  of 
these  was  as  much  the  fault  of  Brazil  as  that  of  Argen- 
tina, and  she  was  forced  to  give  up  the  Cisplatine 
Province  (Uruguay)  forcibly  annexed:  but  in  the  sec- 
ond, the  Paraguayan  war,  Brazil  acted  only  after  years 
of  aggression  obliged  her  to  take  up  arms.  The  fact  is 
that  the  Brazilian  is  a peace  lover,  that  Brazil  has  had 
few  wars  in  the  past  and  has  no  cause  for  quarrel  as  far 
as  can  be  foreseen. 

Wars  between  South  American  states  have  frequently 
hinged  upon  questions  of  boundaries,  the  result  of 
vague  delimitation  in  colonial  days  when  much  of  the 
interior  was  still  a sealed  book.  Brazil  took  steps  early 
in  her  history  as  a republic  to  avoid  such  differences: 
that  good  diplomat  the  Barao  de  Rio  Branco  worked  for 
years  on  the  subject  of  Brazilian  boundaries,  and  sue- 


120 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


ceeded  in  making  definite  settlements  with  the  Argen- 
tine, Bolivia  and  French  Guiana. 

Another  big  step  for  the  preservation  of  Brazilian 
peace  was  made  when  in  1915  a pact  was  arranged  be- 
tween Argentina,  Brazil  and  Chile  which  binds  the 
three  greatest  South  American  states  in  a closer  alliance 
than  has  yet  been  possible  between  North  American 
countries.  The  terms  include  “rules  for  proceeding  to 
facilitate  the  friendly  solution  of  questions  that  were 
formerly  excluded  from  arbitration”  in  virtue  of  the 
treaty  of  1899  between  Brazil  and  Chile,  of  1902  be- 
tween Chile  and  Argentina,  and  of  1905  between 
Argentina  and  Brazil.  The  articles  of  the  new  agree- 
ment arrange  for  the  submission  of  disputes  to  a per- 
manent Commission,  the  signatories  agreeing  not  to 
commit  hostile  acts  while  the  Commission’s  report  is 
pending  or  until  one  year  has  elapsed:  the  constitution 
of  the  Commission  is  provided  for,  and  it  is  agreed  that 
any  one  of  the  three  contracting  parties  has  power  to 
convoke  it;  the  seat  of  the  Commission  was  fixed  in  the 
neighbouring  (and  presumably  neutral)  Republic  of 
Uruguay — at  Montevideo — and  after  it  had  presented 
its  report  upon  matters  in  dispute  the  contracting 
parties,  it  was  agreed,  would  recover  liberty  of  action 
“to  proceed  as  best  consults  their  interest  in  the  matter 
under  investigation.” 

The  A.  B.  C.  Treaty,  as  it  is  known,  was  signed  at 
Buenos  Aires  on  May  25,  1915,  by  representatives  of  the 
three  Governments;  its  strength  has  not  been  tested, 
but  there  is  little  reason  to  doubt  that  the  formal 
acceptance  of  the  arbitration  principle  by  these  three 
powerful  states  in  the  agreement  is  a big  step  forward 
in  American  history.  “Brazil  has  always  been  an 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 


1 21 


advocate  of  arbitration,  and  has  accepted  the  fiats  of 
arbitrators  even  when  against  her  interests,”  says  J.  P. 
Wileman,  adding  that  the  actual  treaty  is  but  a develop- 
ment of  Brazil’s  historic  policy,  though  in  the  particular 
form  it  has  taken  the  formula  adopted  by  the  United 
States  has  been  followed;  it  is  also  significant  because 
it  “diminishes,  although  it  does  not  eliminate,  chances 
of  war  between  the  three  leading  South  American  coun- 
tries,” and  “leaves  no  excuse  for  the  ruinous  competi- 
tion in  armaments  that  has  contributed  so  powerfully  to 
the  actual  financial  crises  in  all  three  countries.”  With 
burdensome  purchases  of  fighting  vessels,  rifles  and 
cannon  eliminated  from  their  budgets  the  Argentine, 
Brazil  and  Chile  can  therefore  “in  future  devote  all 
their  energies  and  resources  to  the  moral  and  material 
advancement  of  their  peoples.” 

The  proof  of  arbitration  puddings  is  in  the  eating.  If 
the  contributed  ingredients  do  not  emerge  from  well- 
kept  cupboards,  they  are  apt  to  sour  whatever  the 
label  upon  the  cooked  product.  North  of  Panama  the 
five  Central  American  Republics  agreed  upon  the  erec- 
tion of  the  Court  of  Cartago  some  years  ago  where  all 
disputes  between  these  neighbours  should  be  thrashed 
out.  Approval  smiled  upon  the  project  from  the 
United  States,  deeply  interested  in  the  peace  of  Central 
America;  Mr.  Carnegie  spent  a large  number  of  dollars 
upon  the  building  of  a beautiful  palace,  and  the  first 
meetings  were  held  with  mutual  kindliness  and  the 
applause  of  the  world.  The  writer  saw  the  Peace 
Palace  in  May,  1910.  A few  days  previously  an  earth- 
quake had  visited  the  lovely  mountain-surrounded 
valley  of  Cartago  and  nothing  remained  of  a charming 
city  but  a heap  of  broken  bricks  and  stone.  The  Peace 


122 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


Palace  was  a dust-heap,  with  twisted  iron  girders 
thrusting  up  against  the  serene  sky  from  a medley  of 
disaster.  The  sight  was  symbolical  of  the  spiritual 
fate  of  the  Court.  At  the  shake  of  an  earthquake  of 
opinions  it  is  in  ruins. 

When  Nicaragua  signed  a treaty  which  Costa  Rica, 
Salvador  and  Honduras  declare  an  encroachment  upon 
their  territorial  rights,  recourse  was  had  to  the  Court, 
re-erected  in  San  Jose.  The  Court  found  for  the  three 
appellants — and  Nicaragua  refuses  to  accept  its  de- 
cision. 

Let  us  hope  the  A.  B.  C.  treaty  is  made  of  better 
material. 


CHAPTER  IV 


TRANSPORTATION 
I.  River  and  Road 

All  the  great  railway  systems  of  Brazil  are  pioneers, 
lines  of  penetration,  driving  into  new  country  like 
hopeful  explorers,  and  starting  from  one  of  the  old 
centres  of  population  on  the  sea-border.  Within  the 
last  few  years  links  have  been  completed  between 
some  of  the  cities  where  the  lines  originate,  so  that 
there  are  now  long  strips  of  line  running  parallel  to  the 
coast,  and  thus  Central  and  South  Brazil  are  benefited 
by  this  junction  so  far  as  it  exists:  but  for  several 
neighbour  states  the  only  means  of  communication  with 
each  other  is  the  sea. 

The  Brazilian,  descendant  of  the  seafaring  Portu- 
guese, is  a good  waterman  by  instinct;  thousands  of 
little  sailboats  navigate  the  sea  margin  of  Brazil,  home- 
built,  doing  an  active  petty  traffic  in  raw  materials  and 
fruit  and  merchandise.  This  traffic  figures  in  Brazilian 
statistics  as  cabotagem.  Passengers  of  a humble  class 
are  carried  in  addition  to  freight  and  there  is  also  a 
fishing  fleet  attached  to  every  sea  town,  so  that  the 
total  of  Brazilian  vessels  of  this  useful  little  class  is 
large. 

When  the  first  hardy  Portuguese  and  their  descend- 
ants the  mamelucos  began,  very  early  after  the  acquisi- 
tion of  a few  strips  of  coast  by  the  first  captains,  to 
penetrate  the  interior  of  the  Land  of  the  True  Cross 


124 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


they  used  the  rivers  as  highways.  The  settlers  of  Sao 
Paulo  sailed  their  canoes  on  the  Tiete,  the  “sacred 
river  of  Sao  Paulo,”  and  it  was  a facile  system  of  ex- 
ploration because  this  river  flows  inland  from  the 
heights  of  the  mountain  barrier  where  it  takes  its  rise; 
running  north-west  for  four  hundred  miles  it  joins  the 
great  Parana  and  thence  continues  southward,  finding 
its  way  to  the  sea  as  part  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata.  The 
water  systems  of  the  east  coast  of  South  America  are 
so  enormous  and  so  closely  linked  that  it  is  possible, 
with  but  a few  miles  of  portage,  to  traverse  a river  path 
all  the  way  from  Buenos  Aires  in  the  Argentine  to  Para 
in  North  Brazil,  a journey  of  some  four  thousand  miles. 

What  the  Tiete  was  to  the  pioneer  Paulistas,  the 
slave-hunting  indomitable  bandeir antes,  the  Sao  Fran- 
cisco was  to  the  early  colonists  of  Bahia,  no  less  ener- 
getic, fearless  and  predatory.  This  noble  river  rises 
in  the  mountains  of  Minas  Geraes,  flowing  north  and 
eventually  turning  east  towards  the  sea  and  forming 
the  renowned  Paulo  Affonso  Falls.  When  the  mineral 
riches  of  the  “General  Mines”  were  discovered  this 
river  became  a busy  highway  of  travel,  the  Bahianos 
flocking  to  the  regions  of  gold  and  precious  stones  in 
such  numbers  that  the  coast  settlement  was  almost 
deserted. 

It  was  during  this  period  of  gold  fever  that  two  of 
the  very  few  good  roads  in  Brazil  were  constructed:  one 
ran  between  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  the  first  capital  of 
Minas,  the  mining  town  of  Ouro  Preto  (“Black  Gold”), 
and  along  it  caravans  travelled  weekly,  bringing  out 
ore  and  hides  and  taking  in  slaves  and  merchandise. 
Villages  which  sprang  up  along  the  line  of  this  old  high- 
way still  exist  although  the  road  itself  has  long  fallen 


TRANSPORTATION 


125 


out  of  repair,  and  one,  Juiz  da  Fora,  has  grown  into  an 
important  well-built  town,  the  centre  of  a mining  and 
agricultural  section  now  served  by  a railroad. 

The  other  road  which  owed  its  construction  to  the 
exciting  tales  from  the  gold  camps  ran  between  Sao 
Paulo  city  and  the  mines;  its  existence  was  limited  by 
the  days  of  prosperity  of  the  gold-seekers,  and  when 
the  rich  deposits  of  alluvial  gold  were  exhausted  and 
the  batea  had  perforce  to  be  exchanged  for  the  spade,  the 
road  was  abandoned.  The  ill  luck  which  attended  the 
pitched  battles  of  the  Paulistas  with  other  claimants 
to  the  General  Mines  caused  the  withdrawal  of  many 
fortune  seekers  back  to  the  plantations  of  S.  Paulo 
and  hastened  the  decay  of  the  highway. 

Another  of  the  few  much-travelled  roads  of  the 
colonial  or  indeed  any  period  of  Brazilian  history,  until 
the  opening  of  the  flat  lands  of  the  extreme  south  by 
imported  European  colonists,  was  one  built  by  the 
Jesuits  from  the  coastal  colony  of  Sao  Vicente  to  their 
own  mission  settlement  at  Sao  Paulo;  this  highway 
negotiated  the  mangrove  swamps  of  the  flat  belt  edging 
the  sea  and  then  climbed  the  rocky  barrier  of  the 
Serra  do  Mar  to  the  cool  interior  plateau.  Before  the 
construction  of  this  Caminho  do  Padre  Jose  the  ascent 
must  have  taxed  even  the  stout  spirits  of  those  indomit- 
able priests.  The  good  Padre  Vasconcellos  wrote, 
three  hundred  years  ago,  of  the  journey: — 

“The  greater  part  of  the  way  one  cannot  really 
travel,  but  must  make  one’s  way  with  hands  and  feet, 
clinging  to  the  roots  of  trees,  and  this  amongst  such 
crags  and  precipices  that  I confess  I trembled  whenever 
I looked  downwards.  The  depth  of  the  valleys  is  tre- 
mendous and  the  number  of  mountains  rising  one 


126 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


above  another  appear  to  leave  no  hope  of  reaching  the 
climax.  ...  It  is  true  that  the  labour  of  the  ascent 
has  its  compensations  now  and  again,  for  when  I rested 
upon  one  of  the  rocks  and  looked  below  it  seemed  as  if 
I were  gazing  from  the  heaven  of  the  moon  and  that 
the  whole  round  universe  lay  spread  beneath  my  feet.” 

When  Fletcher  {Brazil  and  the  Brazilians)  visited 
Sao  Paulo  in  1855,  he  made  the  trip  from  Santos  on 
horseback  over  a Serra  road,  remarking  on  the  excel- 
lence of  the  section  on  the  flat  to  Cubitao;  he  was  two 
days  on  the  journey  and  says  that  the  road  “which 
traverses  this  range  of  mountains  is  probably  the  finest 
in  Brazil,  with  the  exception  of  the  Imperial  highway 
to  Petropolis.” 

This  was  not  the  first  road  constructed  to  bridge  the 
barrier  range,  for  in  1790  the  Portuguese  Governor 
superseded  the  Jesuit  highway  by  a new  one  which 
included  four  miles  of  solid  pavement  and  had  more 
than  one  hundred  and  eighty  angles  before  it  reached 
the  plateau.  It  was  still  too  steep  for  wheeled  traffic 
and  the  troops  of  mules  which  traversed  it  in  thousands, 
bringing  coffee  from  the  interior  after  this  product 
became  a commercial  factor  and  before  the  railway 
was  built,  often  slid  down  the  steep  slopes  on  their 
haunches.  It  is  said  that  both  this  and  the  first  road 
were  lined  with  the  bones  of  mules  that  died  by  the  way. 

Similar  stories  are  told  of  the  Imperial  road,  built  by 
that  genuinely  progressive  ruler,  Dom  Pedro  segundo, 
from  Rio  de  Janeiro  to  his  pet  colony  and  residence 
Petropolis,  a lovely  nook  in  the  heart  of  the  Serra  be- 
hind Guanabara  Bay.  This  road,  too,  traversed  flat, 
marshy  ground  before  it  began  to  climb  the  terrible 
Serra,  and  the  latter  section  remained  in  use  for  some 


TRANSPORTATION 


127 


years  after  a railroad  was  constructed  over  the  flats 
to  the  foot  of  the  mountains:  engineering  difficulties 
were  considered  too  great  for  a railroad  until  even- 
tually Swiss  engineers  applied  the  same  methods  as 
had  solved  the  problem  in  their  own  mountain  country. 

Many  people  in  Brazil  talk  of  the  old  coaching  days 
in  Petropolis,  when  stout  mules  toiled  up  the  sharp 
gradients  with  their  loads  of  passengers  and  freight. 
The  team  was  changed  in  Petropolis  and  the  route 
pursued  on  into  Minas  Geraes.  This  road  is  still  in 
good  condition — Petropolis  the  flower-decked  and 
spotless  is  a centre  of  fine  valley  roads  leading  in  seven 
different  directions — and  is  a panorama  of  charming 
scenes.  Like  its  sister  mountain  road  in  Sao  Paulo 
and  the  “Graciosa”  road  from  Curityba  in  Parana,  it 
has  entered  upon  a new  lease  of  life  with  the  coming  of 
the  automobile. 

Will  the  entry  of  the  cheap  automobile  develop  road- 
making in  Brazil  as  it  has  assisted  in  that  good  work 
in  the  United  States?  It  is  possible.  Before  the  War, 
the  chief  importation  of  motor-cars  was  from  Europe, 
the  class  was  high  grade,  beautiful  and  extremely 
powerful.  It  is  said  that  no  city  in  the  world  can  show 
more  expensive  high-power  cars  than  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
where  every  hired  machine  is  called  upon  to  climb  the 
steep  grades  of  Tijuca  or  some  neighbouring  mountain. 
There  are  large  numbers  of  such  cars  also  to  be  seen 
in  wealthy  S.  Paulo,  but  they  do  not  go  far  from  the 
Avenida  Paulista  for  lack  of  good  roads;  the  luxurious 
European  car  does  its  chief  duty  within  city  bounds. 

But  with  the  introduction  of  the  inexpensive  car  of 
North  American  build,  the  fazendeiro  is  acquiring  a 


128 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


car  for  country  use.  It  seems  certain  that  what  may 
be  called  the  agricultural  use  of  such  cars  will  help  to 
bring  about  improvement  in  interior  highways  that 
was  not  necessarily  called  for  when  a trusty  horse  or 
mule  could  negotiate  any  kind  of  a boggy  track.  At 
the  same  time  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  Brazil  will 
soon  be  extensively  traversed  by  great  high  roads  such 
as  France  possesses  or  such  as  the  Romans  left  in 
Britain.  The  climate  of  half  the  country  opposes  itself 
to  road  permanence  with  all  the  force  of  the  tropics. 
Burned  and  disintegrated  by  fierce  sun,  deluged  and 
beaten  by  even  fiercer  rains,  choked  by  the  lush  growth 
of  a soil  so  fertile  that  a tangled  green  maze  springs  up 
almost  overnight  in  any  cleared  space,  a road  has  poor 
chance  of  surviving  in  many  parts  of  Brazil  unless  un- 
ceasing labour  and  unending  money  is  spent  upon  it. 
In  the  very  regions  where  roads  are  most  wanted  on 
account  of  lack  of  other  transportation  means,  there  is 
usually  the  least  chance  of  money  being  raised  for 
their  upkeep.  In  thinking  of  possible  Brazilian  high- 
ways, it  is  necessary  to  eliminate  from  present  con- 
sideration much  of  the  great  teeming  forestal  belt  of 
the  north,  and  the  precipitous  Serra  regions  of  the 
south  sea-border;  the  areas  where  automobile  roads 
could  be  built  with  a chance  of  permanence  without 
exhausting  expenses  in  upkeep  are  the  flat  lands  of  the 
north,  where  some  excellent  plans  and  beginnings  have 
been  made  in  Bahia  and  Pernambuco;  part  of  Minas, 
where  the  Triangulo  already  has  a public  automobile 
highway  service,  connecting  Uberabinha  with  the  rail- 
way; the  wide  uplands  of  S.  Paulo,  Parana,  Santa 
Catharina  and  Rio  Grande  do  Sul;  and  the  interior 
plateau  of  Goyaz  and  Matto  Grosso. 


TRANSPORTATION 


129 


The  proof  that  permanent,  and  not  too  costly  roads, 
can  be  made  in  Brazil  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  have 
been  made:  the  Russian  carters  of  Parana  take  their 
teams  over  rough  but  serviceable  trails  on  prairie  lands,' 
and  across  the  high  sertao  of  Matto  Grosso  that  great 
and  gallant  explorer,  Rondon,  has  built  roads  over 
which  services  of  automobile  trucks  are  maintained 
for  the  convenience  of  the  telegraph  building,  geological 
and  charting  work  of  the  Commission.  The  tale  of 
the  magnificent  work  in  the  interior  done  by  the  Rondon 
Commission  is  an  epic  of  the  Brazilian  interior,  and 
one  of  its  great  merits  has  been  the  proof  that  this  un- 
known country  is  no  terrible  jungle,  but  an  open,  honest 
country  awaiting  the  plough. 

II.  Rail 

Initiative  in  railway  construction  in  Brazil  is  credited 
to  a clever  priest  who  acted  as  Regent  during  part  of 
the  minority  of  Pedro  II.  In  October,  1835,  Padre 
Feijo  presented  a bill  to  the  Legislative  Assembly  in 
Rio  de  Janeiro  advocating  the  creation  of  a railway 
system;  amongst  other  suggestions  his  scheme  included 
a limitation  of  rates  for  freight  and  passengers — the 
former  to  a maximum  of  twenty  reis  for  each  arroba 
carried  a league,  and  ninety  reis  for  each  passenger 
carried  a like  distance.  Nothing  was  done  for  seventeen 
years,  and  then  in  June,  1852,  the  Brazilian  Govern- 
ment sanctioned  a concession  for  a railroad  to  link  the 
port  of  Pernambuco  to  a point  upon  the  river  S.  Fran- 
cisco, above  the  falls  which  blocked  the  way  of  boats 
traversing  the  busy  interior  river  highway.  This  road 
was  never  built.  In  1853,  another  concession  was 


i3o  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

granted  for  a line  to  reach  the  river  from  the  more 
southerly  port  of  Bahia:  this  plan  was  carried  out  and 
the  road  opened  to  traffic  (Bahia  to  Joazeiro)  in  the 
year  i860,  but  before  that  day  three  other  railways 
had  been  built  and  brought  into  operation. 

The  first  of  all  railways  to  operate  in  Brazil  was  the 
Emperor’s  road  running  from  the  outskirts  of  Rio  city 
across  level  ground  to  the  foot  of  the  Serra:  it  was 
opened  in  1854.  This,  and  the  subsequent  mountain- 
climbing section  extending  from  the  Raiz  da  Serra  to  the 
Alto  da  Serra,  are  part  of  the  important  system  of  lines 
owned  and  operated  by  one  of  the  big  English  com- 
panies, the  Leopoldina:  I refer  in  detail  to  this  series 
and  its  development  work  on  another  page.  A short 
strip,  now  part  of  the  (English)  Great  Western  of 
Brazil  Railway,  running  on  level  country  from  the 
city  of  Pernambuco  was  opened  in  1857,  and  a line 
from  Rio  de  Janeiro  to  Queimados,  a distance  of  sixty 
kilometers,  was  opened  to  traffic  by  Dom  Pedro  in  the 
year  1858:  it  forms  part  of  the  valuable  series  of  pene- 
trating lines  owned  and  operated  by  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment today. 

Before  1870  the  most  important  producing  states, 
the  seaboard  territories  with  surplus  sugar,  coffee, 
tobacco,  cacao  and  cotton  had  been  furnished  with 
strips  of  line  penetrating  limited  areas  of  the  interior. 
In  the  north  engineering  problems  were  easier,  for  the 
frowning  wall  of  the  Serra  do  Mar  melts  away  in  South 
Bahia,  but  it  was  in  the  temperate  zones  of  the  more 
southerly  regions  that  transportation  was  urgently  de- 
manded to  serve  the  needs  of  the  rapidly  expanding 
coffee  regions;  Sao  Paulo  was  feverishly  planting  all 
over  her  best  red-lands,  and  the  only  outlet  for  the 


TRANSPORTATION 


131 

crop  was  the  steep  mountain  road  to  Santos.  An 
English  company  took  up  the  work  of  building  a rail- 
road, completed  it  after  surmounting  a series  of  diffi- 
culties and  opened  it  to  traffic  in  1867.  It  is  a triumph 
of  engineering,  and  has  never  had  a competitor;  from 
S.  Paulo  city  itself  a fan  of  railway  lines  branches  out 
in  every  direction  except  seawards,  and  while  other 
great  centres  of  rail  networks  in  Brazil  originate  at  the 
sea  edge,  here  in  S.  Paulo  the  point  of  departure  is  from 
the  plateau  above  the  hill  barrier.  The  Sao  Paulo-to 
Santos  line  is  world-famous:  it  is  the  channel  through 
which  the  bulk  of  the  coffee  of  the  whole  world  is 
carried,  and  is  for  its  length  one  of  the  notable  money 
earners  of  the  railroad  world.  The  road  crosses 
the  coastal  swamps  following  the  old  Jesuit  road  as 
far  as  Cubatao,  and  thence  climbs  the  granite  wall  of 
the  Serra  on  one  of  the  steepest  grades  known  in  rail- 
way construction,  rising  two  thousand  five  hundred 
feet  within  a distance  of  ten  kilometers.  It  is  a joy  to 
ride  over  this  line,  with  its  magnificent  equipment, 
minute  neatness,  drainage  system  of  the  mountain 
sides  involving  a remarkable  series  of  cemented  chan- 
nels— the  very  rocks  beside  the  track  are  tarred  to 
preserve  them  from  decay,  and  the  sides  of  the  hills 
are  built  up  with  elaborate  care  unparalleled  in  railway 
work;  the  company’s  power-houses,  cottages  for  em- 
ployees, and  stations  along  the  route,  with  the  fine 
terminal  in  Santos  and  the  beautiful  “Estacao  da  Luz” 
in  S.  Paulo,  are  models.  Once  upon  a time,  it  is  said, 
an  American  railroad  man  was  shown  over  this  line  and 
asked  if  he  could  suggest  any  improvements.  “Not 
unless  the  ends  of  the  ties  could  be  carved  or  the  rails 
set  with  diamonds,”  replied  the  visitor. 


132 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


Upkeep  of  the  line  is  costly,  soil  and  climate  working 
against  durability  of  any  human  effort;  the  climb  up 
the  steep  Serra,  electrically  operated  by  rope  haulage 
on  the  “endless  rope”  system,  requires  incessant 
watchfulness,  as  does  the  condition  of  the  several  tun- 
nels blasted  through  the  heart  of  the  mountains.  There 
is  no  better  way  to  appreciate  both  the  engineering 
problems  and  the  superb  beauty  of  the  green  Serra 
with  its  abrupt  peaks  and  deep  valleys  than  to  ride  on 
the  brake  of  a train  making  the  descent  to  Santos. 

The  distance  between  Santos  and  S.  Paulo  is  about 
seventy-nine  kilometers,  but  the  company  owns 
branches,  and  there  is  a duplication  of  the  track,  the 
result  of  reconstruction  and  the  choice  of  a new  route 
for  the  Serra  ascent  in  1901,  which  brings  the  total 
length  of  line  owned  to  one  hundred  and  fifty-three 
kilometers;  the  old  track  may  be  seen  below  the  new 
one  on  the  hillside,  and  is  being  electrified  with  a view 
to  renewed  activity  as  a freight  carrier.  The  enormous 
volume  of  Paulista  coffee  seeking  an  outlet  by  the  line — 
17  million  bags  in  1915-16 — is  a strain  upon  capacity 
in  the  busy  season;  the  exports  of  S.  Paulo  are  also 
developing  in  a new  direction  with  the  entry  of  Brazil 
into  world  markets  with  chilled  beef,  and  refrigerator 
cars  are  monthly  increasing  in  traffic  over  the  road. 

The  capital  of  the  company,  whose  headquarters  are 
in  London,  is  six  million  pounds  sterling,  and  up  to  the 
year  of  war  in  Europe  a dividend  of  fourteen  per  cent 
was  regularly  paid:  in  1914  twelve  per  cent  was  paid, 
and  in  1915  there  was  another  drop  to  ten  per  cent, 
chiefly  consequent  upon  the  fall  in  Brazilian  currency 
which  caused  heavy  losses  when  earnings  counted  in 
milreis  were  turned  into  sterling  for  remittance  to 


The  Sao  Paulo  Railway. 

Operates  between  Sao  Paulo  City  and  the  port  of  Santos,  and  is  the  great  coffee- 
carrying  line.  Above,  Estafao  da  Luz,  S.  Paulo  City.  Below,  part  of  track 
traversing  the  steep  Serra  do  Mar,  showing  tunnels  blasted  through  granite. 


TRANSPORTATION  133 

4 

Europe.  Lowered  exchange  has  caused  serious  embar- 
rassment to  most  companies  operating  in  Latin  America 
with  foreign  capital,  especially  the  transportation  com- 
panies whose  rates  are  fixed,  and  it  was  loss  on  this 
account  rather  than  reduced  business  which  brought 
gloom  into  railway  and  street-car  circles  in  1915. 

There  are  three  railways  which  climb  the  mountain 
wall  of  South  Brazil:  the  first  was  the  Sao  Paulo  line, 
and  the  second  the  Petropolis  link,  built  on  the  rack 
system;  some  wonderful  views  are  passed  on  the  two- 
hour  journey.  The  third  mountain  climbing  line  con- 
nects the  port  of  Paranagua  to  Curityba,  in  the  State  of 
Parana,  some  three  hundred  miles  south  of  Santos. 
The  construction  of  this  line  was  as  remarkable  a feat 
as  that  of  the  Sao  Paulo  railway,  and  is  even  more 
spectacular;  it  was  only  completed  after  the  first  daring 
attempt  had  failed,  and  today  the  line  hangs  breath- 
lessly on  the  sides  of  mountain  precipices,  traverses 
canyons  on  apparently  frail  bridges,  and  plunges  into 
tunnels  blasted  through  granite.  The  Serra  is  extremely 
steep  in  the  region  traversed  by  the  railroad  and  the 
scenery  is  quite  the  most  wild  and  beautiful  of  the 
Brazilian  mountain  barrier.  The  line  is  the  outlet  for 
the  products  of  the  mills  of  industrious  Curityba,  and 
from  here  the  herva  matte  of  the  interior  woods  of 
Parana  is  sent  to  Paranagua  and  thence  by  boat  to  its 
chief  destination,  Argentina.  Parana  and  the  neigh- 
bouring forests  comprise  almost  the  sole  source  of  supply 
of  matte  leaves,  and  thus  the  mountain  line  has  a 
practical  monopoly  in  the  transportation  of  this  wild 
product;  if  recent  Argentine  plans  for  planting  the 
shrub  are  successful  a heavy  blow  would  probably  be 
dealt  to  this  industry. 


134 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


Brazil  built  her  first  railway  three  years  before  the 
Argentine  brought  her  first  line  into  operation — a 
modest  strip  of  thirteen  miles  running  west  from  Buenos 
Aires — although  British  Guiana  has  the  credit  of  pos- 
sessing the  earliest  railroad  of  South  America;  during 
the  Empire  construction  proceeded  steadily  but  with  a 
certain  caution,  and  it  was  not  until  after  the  formation 
of  the  Republic  in  1889  that  floods  of  concessions  for 
railway  construction  invaded  Brazil.  The  years  1890- 
91  show  the  highwater  mark  of  such  plans,  and  while 
many  of  these  dried  up  without  leaving  a trace  there 
remained  sufficient  impetus  for  much  genuine  and  use- 
ful construction. 

Lines  began  to  go  farther  afield,  to  form  networks  and 
connected  links;  they  were  part  of  general  improvement 
plans  which  presently  included  harbours  and  wharves, 
waterworks  and  sanitation  schemes,  city  paving  and 
draining  and  beautifying.  It  is  true  that  from  the  time 
of  the  Republic  is  dated  Brazil’s  plunge  into  debt  upon  a 
great  scale,  but  since  the  new  American  countries  could 
not  wait  until  they  had  sufficient  money  in  the  national 
pockets  to  pay  for  railway,  harbour  and  sanitation,  and 
Europe  stood  ready  to  lend  her  surplus  gold  in  aid  of  the 
work,  Brazil  is  scarcely  to  blame  for  borrowing  as  did 
her  sisters,  north  and  south.  Her  very  extravagance 
helped  to  advertise  and  advance  Brazil,  the  royal- 
spending world-customer  with  rich  products  for  sale  to 
justify  her;  she  attracted  immigrants,  merchants, 
capitalists,  technical  men  and  scholars  as  she  never 
would  have  done  without  her  renown  as  a land  of  care- 
less magnificence. 

Borrowing  and  building  went  on  without  any  serious 
check  until  1912,  when  the  first  Balkan  War  cast  long 


TRANSPORTATION 


135 

shadows  into  the  financial  world;  less  than  two  hundred 
miles  of  new  railway  line  have  come  into  operation  since 
that  year  in  Brazil.  But  the  previous  fat  years,  many 
more  than  seven,  had  by  that  time  not  only  brought 
about  rail  access  to  many  fertile  interior  belts,  but  also 
the  linking  of  the  more  important  systems  by  lines 
reaching  up  and  down  the  coast.  The  brilliant  French 
author,  Pierre  Denis,  was  able  to  say  ten  or  twelve  years 
ago  that  there  was  “ no  general  railway  system  in  Brazil; 
there  are  small  independent  systems,  covering  with 
their  meshes  the  regions  of  long-established  coloniza- 
tion, but  without  inter-communicating  lines.”  He 
found  connection  between  two  groups  only,  remarking 
that  “the  line  from  S.  Paulo  to  Rio  is  today  the  only 
means  of  transit  between  two  groups  of  states,  except- 
ing the  ocean  highway.” 

At  the  end  of  1922  the  situation  is  greatly  changed. 
Not  only  have  many  states  been  linked  up  but  three 
sister  Republics  are  in  direct  communication  with 
Brazil  by  rail.  Sao  Paulo  city  communicates  by  sys- 
tems under  allied  control  with  Uruguay;  Argentina  is  in 
touch  at  the  western  edge  of  Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  where 
the  town  of  Uruguayana  stands  on  the  river  boundary 
between  the  two  countries  opposite  to  the  Argentine 
port  of  Libres;  Bolivia  is  reached  at  the  frontier  town 
of  Corumba,  on  the  border  of  south-western  Matto 
Grosso,  as  well  as  at  the  Madeira-Mamore  Falls  in  the 
north.  Linking  up  with  south-eastern  Bolivia  is  the 
result  of  the  penetration  of  south  Matto  Grosso  by  the 
North-Western  of  Brazil  Railway;  this  line,  which  has 
direct  communication  with  the  city  of  S.  Paulo,  reached 
Itapura  on  the  river  Parana  a few  years  ago,  and  pushed 
on  energetically  from  that  western  edge  of  S.  Paulo 


136  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

State  across  the  narrow  southerly  neck  of  the  huge 
neighbour,  arriving  early  in  1916  at  Porto  Esperanza  on 
the  river  Paraguay,  only  a few  miles  from  the  objective 
of  the  road,  Coruinba  town  on  the  frontier  of  Bolivia. 
This  transportation  service  gives  Bolivia  an  outlet  of 
which  the  interior  republic  has  stood  in  need  since  she 
was  deprived  of  a seaport  of  her  own  on  the  Pacific;  per- 
force sending  her  products  out  through  other  republics, 
Bolivia  has  been  already  aided  in  the  north  with  the 
opening  of  the  Madeira-Mamore  line,  giving  better 
access  to  the  river  highway  of  the  Amazon. 

The  North-Western  line  has  pushed  farther  afield 
from  the  seacoast  than  any  other  in  Brazil:  the  con- 
structing company  is  Belgian,  with  headquarters  in 
Brussels,  and  the  Federal  Government  in  this  as  in 
many  other  instances  guarantees  interest  on  the  capital 
expended,  a loan  having  been  raised  for  this  purpose  in 
Paris  in  1909.  An  able  Brazilian  engineer,  Dr.  Firma 
Dutra,  directs  the  work;  all  the  rolling  stock,  including 
dormitories  and  restaurant  cars,  has  been  built  in 
Brazilian  workshops  with  Brazilian  hardwoods.  An- 
other approach,  parallel  to  and  south  of  the  north- 
western, to  the  great  stock-raising  lands  of  Matto 
Grosso  is  offered  now  that  the  extension  of  the  Soroca- 
bana  line  from  Salto  Grande  to  the  port  of  Tibiriga  on 
the  Parana  river  is  completed;  Tibiriga  is  a famous  cat- 
tle crossing  where  thousands  of  head  of  the  stocky 
beasts  reared  on  luscious  interior  pastures  are  brought 
into  the  State  of  S.  Paulo.  Their  numbers  have  been 
greatly  augmented  since  the  opening  of  two  packing- 
houses in  S.  Paulo  at  the  end  of  1914,  and  excellent 
service  has  been  rendered  by  the  Paulista  enterprise, 
the  Companhia  de  Viagao  Sao  Paulo-Matto  Grosso, 


TRANSPORTATION 


137 


which  owns  the  port  of  Tibiri^a,  operates  ferries,  runs  a 
steamboat  service  up  the  Parana  river  to  Jupia  (Ita- 
pura)  where  the  North-Western  brings  merchandise 
from  S.  Paulo  city,  as  well  as  service  on  three  or  four 
tributaries  of  the  Parana;  the  company  has  constructed 
a highway,  now  bordered  with  coffee  plantations,  rest- 
pastures  for  the  passing  cattle,  and  embryo  villages 
along  the  route,  all  the  way  to  the  city  of  S.  Paulo. 

There  are  three  chief  fans  of  radiating  railroad  lines  in 
Brazil,  starting  from  the  coastal  border  from  Sao  Paulo, 
Rio  de  Janeiro  and  Pernambuco.  The  first  two  form 
networks  of  lines  of  much  greater  extent  than  the  third, 
and  besides  these  systems  there  are  several  points  along 
the  littoral  where  a railway  penetrating  inland  is  already 
the  handle  of  a new  fan.  The  southernmost  state  of 
Brazil,  Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  is  well  served,  lines  running 
through  the  middle  of  her  territory  from  north  to  south 
(the  Auxiliaire,  now  part  of  the  Brazil  Railways  group) 
and  east  to  west,  so  that  the  state  is  in  touch  with 
Argentina,  with  Uruguay,  with  the  States  of  S.  Paulo, 
and  Santa  Catharina  and  with  the  seat  at  each  end  of 
the  Lagoa  dos  Patos,  a busy  lagoon  with  the  town  of 
Rio  Grande  at  the  entrance  and  Porto  Alegre  at  the 
northern  end:  the  railroad  splits  into  two  at  Cacequy  in 
order  to  serve  both  the  rival  ports.  Superior  docking  at 
Porto  Alegre  sent  practically  all  visiting  vessels  to  the 
upper  end  of  the  lagoon  until  the  end  of  1915,  when  the 
new  harbour  of  Rio  Grande  was  formally  opened.  The 
work,  a long  and  expensive  series  of  tasks,  was  per- 
formed by  a French  company,  and  includes  the  deepen- 
ing and  maintenance  of  the  channel  to  permit  the  entry 
of  deep-draught  vessels,  docks  and  wharves;  Rio  Grande 


13 8 BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


is  a fine  state  with  a cool  climate,  an  industrious  popula- 
tion, and  thriving  business.  It  has  been  carefully 
colonized  with  white  European  settlers,  has  space  for  a 
million  more,  and  with  its  easy  access  to  other  centres  of 
population  by  sea  and  rail  has  much  to  attract  new- 
comers. Increasing  exchange  is  carried  on  with  the 
Argentine,  chiefly  by  water. 

Santa  Catharina’s  rail  service  consists  of  the  north- 
and-south  link  of  the  Sao  Paulo-Rio  Grande  line,  a 
short  local  line  between  the  colonies  of  Blumenau  and 
Hansa,  and  two  short  strips  running  inland  from  the 
sea,  one  from  Imbatuba  to  Laguna  and  thence  inland  to 
Lauro  Muller,  serving  the  coalfields  of  that  region;  the 
other  from  the  excellent  little  island  port  of  Sao  Fran- 
ciso,  across  to  the  mainland  at  Paraty,  and  thence  in- 
land to  Joinville,  Rio  Negro  and  Tres  Barras,  where  the 
lumber  yards  of  a company  controlled  by  the  Brazil 
Railway  Company  feed  it  with  freight.  The  Tres 
Barras  yards  operate  with  the  Parana  pine  for  which 
the  southern  States  of  Brazil  are  famous,  ship  it  to 
many  other  parts  of  the  Brazilian  Union,  and  in  1915 
arranged  to  supply  Argentina  alone  with  forty  million 
feet  a year. 

S.  Francisco  port  has  entered  upon  a new  life  since 
the  lumber  business  has  been  flourishing;  a double  row 
of  settlements  has  sprung  up  beside  the  track  of  the 
railroad  and  agriculture  is  showing  development  in  a 
region  that  has  been  steadily  if  slowly  settled  by  the 
descendants  of  the  early  colony  of  Joinville. 

The  State  of  Parana  is  better  off  for  connections;  in 
addition  to  the  north  and  south  link  with  the  sister 
states  of  Sao  Paulo  and  Santa  Catharina,  she  has  a 
railroad  running  off  from  it  at  the  station  of  Ponta 


TRANSPORTATION 


09 


Grossa  due  east  to  Serrinha  (whence  a branch  connects 
with  Rio  Negro  directly  to  the  south),  on  to  the  pleasant 
capital  town,  Curityba,  and  down  the  wonderful  moun- 
tain road  already  referred  to  until  the  port  of  Paranagua 
is  reached,  one  of  the  lively  younger  shipping  points 
of  the  southern  littoral. 

Sao  Paulo,  the  next  state  northwards,  is  the  possessor 
of  the  best  system  of  penetrating  railroads  in  Brazil: 
she  has  more  mileage  than  any  other  single  state  in 
the  Union,  counting  over  four  thousand  miles.  In  his 
Message  read  before  the  S.  Paulo  Congress  on  July  14, 
1916,  the  President  of  the  State,  Dr.  Altino  Arantes, 
remarked : 

“During  the  past  year  we  had  an  addition  of  one 
hundred  and  forty-two  kilometers  to  the  railroad 
mileage  of  the  State,  bringing  the  figures  of  the  total 
system  to  six  thousand  two  hundred  and  seventy-nine 
kilometers  on  December  31.  Of  this  total  four  thousand 
three  hundred  and  fifty-five  kilometers  belong  to  pri- 
vate enterprises;  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  sixty- 
nine  to  the  State  and  the  remaining  three  hundred  and 
fifty-five  to  the  Union.” 

The  most  important  of  the  lines  belonging  to  the 
State  referred  to  by  Dr.  Altino  Arantes  is  the  Soroca- 
bana,  with  over  eleven  hundred  kilometers  of  track, 
which  is  leased  to  the  Brazil  Railways:  the  other 
two  state  properties  are  the  Funilense  Railway  and 
the  Cantareira  Tramway,  running  from  S.  Paulo 
city  up  a green,  well-settled  valley  to  picturesque  water- 
works among  woods. 

The  Sorocabana  with  its  general  westerly  direction 
is  one  of  the  lines  which  are  pushing  ahead  towards 
the  Matto  Grosso  boundary;  building  on  from  Salto 


140 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


Grande  on  the  Paranapanema  river,  the  line  reached 
Caramaru  in  1916.  As  we  saw  when  on  the  subject  of 
the  line  from  Santos  to  S.  Paulo,  railroads  in  the  State 
of  Sao  Paulo  only  began  forming  a network  at  the  top 
of  the  plateau  after  the  Serra  had  been  conquered1;  the 
next  to  be  constructed  was  the  Paulista,  which  has  its 
northern  terminal  at  Barretos,  in  the  heart  of  good 
cattle  lands:  a flourishing  packing  house  owned  by  the 
Companhia  Frigorifica  e Pastoril  of  S.  Paulo  is  situated 
near  Barretos,  and  has  as  its  president  the  same  energetic 
Paulista  who  heads  the  railway,  Conselheiro  Antonio 
da  Silva  Prado.  Both  packing  house  and  railway  are 
purely  Brazilian  enterprises  financed  with  Brazilian 
money,  but  the  construction  of  the  road  was  headed  by 
an  American  named  Hammond,  and  was  in  consequence 
known  for  a long  time  as  “Hammond’s  road”  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  “Fox’s  road”  as  the  pioneer  line  to 
Santos  was  called  after  the  English  engineer.  The 
Paulista  both  served  and  created  coffee  plantations, 
following  the  lines  of  richest  deposit  of  the  red  diabasic 
soils  that  have  made  S.  Paulo  the  great  coffee  country 
of  the  world;  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  Mogyana, 
almost  parallel  to  the  Paulista  but  farther  north,  also  a 
Brazilian  owned  and  operated  company,  and  the 
Northwestern. 

Today  these  paralleled  lines  are  linked  with  branches 
and  possess  steel  arms  reaching  out  into  rich  developing 
districts  so  that  there  is  a genuine  “rede  ferroviario” 

1 There  is  another  railroad  running  off  from  Santos.  It  does  not  attempt 
the  Serra,  but  follows  the  flat  coast  to  Itanhaen  port,  and  then  turns  a few 
miles  inland,  passing  Prainha,  until  junction  is  effected  with  the  Iguape 
river.  Boats  sail  down  from  this  point  to  Iguape  port,  notable  as  the  scene 
of  settlement  of  Japanese  rice  growers  a few  years  ago. 


TRANSPORTATION 


141 

over  Paulista  territory.  The  great  coffee  centre  of 
Campinas  is  the  point  of  departure  for  a star  of  lines, 
and  so  is  the  more  northerly  Riberao  Preto,  in  the 
heart  of  the  dark  blood-red  lands. 

In  a particularly  fortunate  position  with  regard  to 
communication  with  other  States  as  well  as  interior  serv- 
ice, S.  Paulo  is  linked  directly  to  Rio  by  the  line  owned 
and  operated  by  the  Federal  Government,  the  Central 
system,  and  onward  from  Rio  due  north  to  the  port  of 
Espirito  Santo  State;  to  the  interior  of  Minas  Geraes  by 
way  of  Uberaba,  Araguary  and  over  the  border  into 
Goyaz  to  Catalao  and  Roncador;  by  following  the  Cen- 
tral’s lines  the  capital  of  Minas,  the  new  town  of  Bello 
Horizonte,  is  reached;  southward,  the  series  of  lines  con- 
trolled by  the  Brazil  Railways  take  the  traveller  from 
S.  Paulo  all  through  the  States  of  Parana,  Santa  Cath- 
arina  and  Rio  Grande  to  the  Republic  of  Uruguay,  with 
connection  at  the  border  town  of  Santa  Anna  do  Livra- 
mento  with  a line  running  south  to  Montevideo. 

The  writer  followed  this  route  in  December,  1915. 
The  journey  took  six  days  and  nights,  three  of  the 
latter  being  spent  in  the  train  and  three  at  points  en 
route  while  waiting  for  connections,  certain  trains 
running  but  twice  a week.  My  path  was  smooth  by 
official  courtesy  and  the  trip  was  pleasant  as  well  as 
interesting;  the  sparsely  occupied  country,  with  col- 
onies set  down  here  and  there  near  the  track,  has  a 
delightful  freshness  born  of  bright  empty  spaces,  woods 
and  a multitude  of  shallow  rapid  streams. 

The  pine  forests  of  Parana  and  Santa  Catharina  with 
their  flowery  carpets  were  a series  of  fine  pictures,  while 
the  wide-spread  sunny  pastures  of  southern  Rio  Grande, 
a perfect  cattle  country  with  a cool  climate,  are  waiting 


142 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


for  more  white  immigrants.  Herds  stray  on  the  sides 
of  gentle  grassy  slopes  and  in  the  valleys  where  a cluster 
of  green  marks  the  bed  of  a little  river,  fields  are  marked 
out  and  a red-tiled  house  nestles — but  these  are  all 
too  few. 

The  Brazil  Railway  Company  was  formed  in  1906 
through  the  initiative  of  Percival  Farquhar  with  the 
object  of  unifying  railway  lines  in  South  Brazil,  then  in 
several  different  hands  as  a result  of  the  concessionary 
system  which  was  the  only  way  of  inviting  foreign 
capital  in  earlier  days:  the  project  also  included  the 
control  of  accessory  ports  and  large  industrial  develop- 
ment along  the  line  of  the  roads.  About  the  same  time 
the  syndicate  formed  by  Farquhar  obtained  interests 
in  railways  in  Argentina,  Paraguay,  Uruguay  and 
Chile;  a huge  unification  plan  was  foreshadowed. 

Some  of  these  plans  have  fallen  through — the  narrow- 
gauge  Argentine  lines  leased  have,  for  instance,  returned 
to  their  former  control,  and  Chilean  interests  have 
been  dropped — partly  because  disturbed  conditions  in 
Europe  since  the  first  Balkan  war  in  1912  ended  oppor- 
tunities for  obtaining  more  metal  props. 

Registered  in  the  United  States,  the  Brazil  Railway 
Company  is  really  a monument  to  French  confidence 
in  Brazil,  in  that  the  capital  employed,  as  well  as  the 
properties  acquired,  is  Gallic  in  origin  to  a large  extent. 
The  capital  of  the  company  is  fifteen  hundred  million 
francs,  and  of  this  huge  sum  nine  hundred  million  francs 
were  subscribed  in  Paris,  the  rest  of  the  money  coming 
from  Brussels  and  London.  The  company  is  interested 
in  thirty-eight  subsidiary  companies,  including  several 
railroads  which  were  bought  or  leased  (and,  in  the 
case  of  the  Madeira-Mamore,  constructed),  a frigorifico 


TRANSPORTATION 


U3 


recently  completed  on  Rio  docks,  a flourishing  cattle 
company,  a land  and  colonization  company,  lumber 
business,  interest  in  ports,  as  at  Para,  Rio  Grande  City 
and  Rio  de  Janeiro  (leased  out  to  another  company),  a 
steamship  service  on  the  Amazon  river,  et  cetera.  Land 
owned  by  the  cattle  company  totals  to  over  eight  million 
acres,  in  the  States  of  Matto  Grosso,  S.  Paulo,  Parana 
and  Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  and  serious  efforts  are  being 
made  to  improve  the  stock  of  the  two  or  three  hundred 
thousand  head  of  cattle  kept  in  various  regions  by  the 
introduction  of  first-class  breeding  stock.  Animals  are 
sold  to  the  second  of  S.  Paulo’s  packing  houses,  the 
frigorifico  at  Osasco,  just  outside  S.  Paulo  city,  an 
American  owned  and  operated  enterprise  1 dating  also 
from  1914,  which  has  friendly  connection  with  the 
Brazil  Railways. 

A few  of  the  interests  of  the  Brazil  Railways  are  in  a 
prosperous  state,  as  the  lumber  and  cattle  businesses, 
but  the  position  of  the  company  as  a whole  suffers  from 
the  weaker  elements  of  the  group,  perhaps  particularly 
the  Amazonian,  which  were  injected  into  the  earlier 
South  Brazilian  plans;  many  of  the  development  com- 
panies not  only  do  not  pay  but  need  money  to  carry 
them  along.  The  affairs  of  the  company  are  now  in 
the  hands  of  an  American  receiver,  and  the  latest  re- 
port presented  to  long-suffering  shareholders  at  a 
London  meeting  was  optimistic  in  tone.  It  is  the  most 
ambitious  group  of  enterprises  under  one  control  in 
Brazil,  and  perhaps  this  is  one  reason  why  its  plan  of 
line,  land  and  port  management  has  not  been  always 
looked  upon  with  a favourable  eye  by  Brazilian  authori- 

1 The  Continental  Products  Company:  capital  and  personnel  came  from 
the  Sulzberger  house  in  Chicago. 


144 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


ties.  Objection  seems  also  to  be  made  to  the  intro- 
duction of  foreign  capital  not  for  the  purpose  of  de- 
velopment work  of  a new  kind,  but  when  employed  in 
acquiring  properties  already  existing.1 

In  South  Brazil  the  company  operates  over  three 
thousand  miles  of  line,  including  the  State-owned  Soro- 
cabana,  the  Sao  Paulo-Rio  Grande,  the  Parana  line,  the 
Auxiliaire  traversing  Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  and  the  little 
Thereza  Christina  in  Santa  Catharina. 

Sao  Paulo  and  Rio  de  Janeiro  are  linked  by  the  line 
owned  by  the  Federal  Government,  the  Central  do 
Brasil,  a series  running  off  from  a point  on  the  S.  Paulo 
line  into  the  State  of  Minas  Geraes;  the  writer  followed 
this  road  when  visiting  Bello  Horizonte,  the  new  capital 
of  Minas,  a beautifully  placed  city  with  mountains 
rising  behind  it  and  terraced  plains  and  valleys  sweep- 
ing away  in  front.  The  line  into  Minas  traverses  a hilly 
country,  green,  fertile,  well-watered  with  turbulent 
rivers  whose  valleys  are  sedulously  followed.  From 
near  Bello  Horizonte  a long  arm  of  steel  reaches  out 
past  Sete  Lagoas,  Curvello  and  Curralinho,  where  a 
branch  runs  to  the  famous  diamond  fields  of  Diaman- 
tina,  and  to  Pirapora  on  the  river  Sao  Francisco:  from 
this  point  steamboats  meeting  the  trains  take  their 
goods  and  passengers  down  the  waterway  to  Joazeiro  in 

1 Message  of  Dr.  Altino  Arantes  to  the  S.  Paulo  Legislature,  July  14,  1916: 

“Foreign  capital  flowed  here  in  search  of  convenient  employment,  but, 
instead  of  being  destined  to  new  enterprises  in  the  development  of  the  great 
latent  wealth  of  our  State,  it  was  localized  in  railways  already  prosperous, 
whose  income  and  control  are  by  way  of  being  totally  alienated,  with  grave 
prejudice  and  serious  threats  to  the  future  of  our  State.  . . . 

“It  would  be,  in  truth,  blamable  want  of  foresight  to  allow  what  is  our 
own  to  pass  to  strange  hands,  when  we  created  it  at  the  cost  of  our  best 
efforts,  constituting  thus  the  most  worthy  exemplification  of  our  industry 
and  our  energy.” 


TRANSPORTATION 


i4S 

Bahia  State.  It  is  from  this  river  port  of  Pirapora  that 
an  extremely  bold  railway  has  been  planned,  to  run 
almost  due  north  to  the  city  of  Para,  the  latter  part  of 
the  route  following  the  valley  of  the  Tocantins  river: 
the  line  would  be  some  two  thousand  miles  in  length, 
traversing  country  never  properly  explored  or  charted. 
Authorization  to  contract  for  the  work  was  given  in 
1911  to  the  brilliant  Brazilian  engineer,  Frontin,  to 
whose  genius  the  beautifying  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  is  due, 
and  a beginning  was  made  between  Pirapora  and  For- 
mosa, but  the  universal  lack  of  money  has  given  a 
check  to  operations.  The  headquarters  and  main  sta- 
tion of  the  Estrada  de  Ferro  Central  do  Brasil  are  situated 
in  Rio  de  Janeiro.  Three  trains  are  run  daily  each  way 
between  Rio  and  Sao  Paulo,  those  starting  in  the  early 
morning  landing  passengers  about  six  in  the  evening; 
they  are  equipped  with  a satisfactory  and  inexpensive 
restaurant  service.  The  two  night  trains  leave  each 
city  at  intervals  of  an  hour  and  a half  every  evening; 
the  first  leaves  about  seven  o’clock,  and  is  modestly 
furnished  with  beds  on  the  North  American  Pullman 
plan,  while  the  famous  “luxo,”  on  which  newspaper 
reporters  always  attend  to  take  down  the  names  of  the 
illustrious,  starts  at  nine  o’clock;  each  camarote  is  a 
separate  apartment  with  an  individual  toilette,  fans, 
electric  light,  bells,  and  very  prompt  attendants  always 
at  hand,  in  the  style  of  the  best  European  trains.  Leav- 
ing Rio  the  track  runs  through  a pretty  green  valley, 
intersected  with  palm  decked  little  ravines  and  num- 
bers of  round  hills,  until  the  uplands  of  Sao  Paulo  are 
approached.  The  line  has  never  paid  its  way  under 
Government  control,  although  deficits  have  been  re- 
cently much  reduced  by  stern  elimination  of  free  passes 


146  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


for  politicians  and  their  friends.  Expenses  of  operation 
were  in  1915-16  abnormally  inflated  by  the  cost  of 
coal  which  at  one  time  reached  one  hundred  and  twelve 
milreis  a ton  (over  twenty-eight  dollars)  and  alterations 
were  made  in  many  of  the  locomotives  to  permit  the 
use  of  oil  as  fuel.  Coal  used  in  Brazil  is  practically  all 
imported,  development  of  national  southerly  fields  not 
being  yet  sufficient  for  a tithe  of  the  needs,  and  while 
Welsh  hard  coal  soared  high  when  the  British  Govern- 
ment checked  exports,  North  American  was  offered  at 
prices  little  inferior  on  account  of  the  making-hay 
methods  of  United  States  ship-owners.  Oil,  too,  is  im- 
ported, but  the  Federal  Government  procured  a large 
stock  before  changing  the  fuel  methods  of  the  Central, 
and  is  able  to  buy  supplies  from  three  different  firms. 
Several  railroads  of  Brazil,  in  these  days  of  stress,  burn 
wood. 

From  Rio  de  Janeiro  city  is  an  exceedingly  important 
“rede”  of  lines,  for  in  addition  to  the  excellent  system 
of  the  Central  is  the  series  belonging  to  the  Leopoldina 
company,  an  admirable  constructor,  operator  and 
developer  company.  The  Leopoldina  owns  about  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  track,  serves 
an  area  of  two  hundred  thousand  square  miles,  and 
penetrates  the  three  States  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Minas 
Geraes  and  Espirito  Santo,  linking  the  port  of  Vic- 
toria to  Rio  by  a lateral  line  with  little  branches  joining 
up  small  ports  by  the  way,  and  passing  through  the 
rich  sugar  country  of  Campos  and  the  active  town  of 
Itapemirim  (Cachoeiras)  where  several  industries  ob- 
tain power  from  the  falls;  other  lines  run  off  from  Ita- 
pemirim, Campos,  Macahe  and  several  points  pene- 
trating fertile  interior  country  with  good  transportation 


TRANSPORTATION 


147 


service.  This  coastwise  series,  and  another  running  to 
Nova  Friburgo  and  on  in  a general  northerly  direction, 
start  from  Nictheroy,  across  the  bay  from  Rio  city: 
the  bay  is  traversed  by  a thoroughly  up  to  date  system 
of  ferries,  of  the  Cantareira  Company,  which  originally 
belonged  to  a Brazilian  firm  but  was  purchased  and  is 
now  operated  by  the  Leopoldina. 

The  fine  line  to  Petropolis  starts  from  the  Praia  For- 
mosa in  Rio,  the  ascent  taking  two  hours,  apparently 
never  grudged  by  the  scores  of  business  men  whose 
homes  are  in  the  mountain  city  during  the  summer  and 
who  travel  daily  to  Rio;  from  Petropolis  it  runs  on  into 
the  Minas  interior,  serving  a coffee  and  dairy  country. 

The  Leopoldina  Railway  Company  was  formed  in 
London  in  1897,  and  with  the  capital  subscribed  existing 
lines  were  acquired  which  have  since  been  improved  and 
largely  extended;  the  series  was  bankrupt  when  taken 
over  but  with  unification  of  the  lines  and  the  encourage- 
ment of  agriculture  along  the  course  there  has  been  a 
respectable  dividend-earning  for  the  last  ten  years. 
The  company  maintains  demonstration  farms  at  Nova 
Friburgo  and  Bern  Fica  in  the  interior  of  Rio  State, 
where  irrigation  is  applied  to  the  rich  little  valleys  that 
intersect  a multitude  of  hills;  on  the  hilltops  coffee  has 
been  grown  for  half  a century,  and  while  this  process  has 
been  one  of  gradual  but  certain  exhaustion  the  valleys 
have  been  neglected.  It  is  interesting  to  see,  all  along 
the  Leopoldina’s  lines,  efforts  made  by  the  Brazilian 
small  farmer  to  imitate  the  methods  of  Bern  Fica. 
Another  demonstration  farm  at  the  station  of  Campos, 
on  the  way  to  Victoria,  was  changed  in  a few  months 
from  a piece  of  waste  land  to  a lusty  field  of  cotton  as  an 
example;  all  this  coastal  belt  is  an  old  sugar  country 


148 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


which  should  also  be  a great  producer  of  cotton  and 
fibres  and  fruit.  Running  on  to  the  capital  and  port 
of  the  State  of  Espirito  Santo,  Victoria,  the  line  serves 
at  the  latter  end  a hilly  coffee  country  with  one  of  the 
most  wonderful  winding  panoramas  of  scenery  in  South 
America;  a dormitory  and  restaurant  service  of  high- 
class  type  operates  between  Rio  and  Victoria,  and 
from  this  exquisitely  framed  little  port,  “ 0 Rio  em 
miniatura ,”  go  out  four  million  bags  of  Brazil’s  coffee 
crop.  The  city  lies  at  the  end  of  a bay  entrance  of 
great  beauty,  green,  broken  by  fantastic  hills  reflected 
in  pellucid  water;  port  works  of  the  best  modern  design 
have  been  begun  by  the  Leopoldina  engineers,  but  when 
the  writer  visited  the  port  in  late  1915  work  had  prac- 
tically ceased  as  a result  of  financial  stringency.  The 
hopes  of  Victoria  to  become  one  of  the  busiest  centres 
of  activity  are  high,  for  in  addition  to  her  coffee  export 
trade  she  may  serve  as  a great  doorway  for  outgoing 
minerals  from  Minas  Geraes:  enormous  iron  deposits 
for  which  Victoria  is  probably  the  most  logical  outlet 
have  been  acquired  by  a British  company  and  with 
the  war  over,  are  awaiting  loosened  purse-strings,  for 
development. 

In  addition  to  the  coastwise  link  with  Rio,  the  State 
of  Espirito  Santo  is  traversed  in  a north-westerly 
direction  by  a line  which  enters  the  valley  of  the  Rio 
Doce  and  passes  on  into  Minas  Geraes;  about  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  kilometers  are  in  traffic  of  this  system, 
which,  linking  up  with  other  lines  in  the  south  of  Minas, 
will  serve  a fine  region  and  add  to  the  prestige  of  Victoria. 

Looking  up  the  coast  from  Victoria  there  is  observable 
a gap  between  that  pretty  port  and  the  cacao  centre, 


TRANSPORTATION 


149 


Bahia,  as  regards  railroad  connections  parallel  to  the 
sea  coast.  The  greatest  networks  of  lines  have  ceased 
in  Espirito  Santo,  and  above  this  region  there  is  only 
one  linking  series  of  lines,  the  system  of  the  Great 
Western  of  Brazil,  serving  the  whole  of  the  great 
north-east  promontory  of  Brazil.  The  lines  of  Bahia  do 
not  form  a coherent  system,  important  as  they  are  as 
regards  local  needs. 

Below  the  port  of  Bahia  (properly  the  city  of  Sao 
Salvador,  but  as  little  popularly  known  by  that  name  as 
Rio  is  recognized  by  her  official  title  of  Sao  Sebastiao) 
there  are  two  lines  penetrating  from  coast  towns  in- 
wards to  cacao-producing  country:  the  most  ambitious 
runs  from  Ponta  da  Areia,  close  to  the  port  of  Car- 
avellas,  westwards  across  the  narrow  southern  neck  of 
Bahia  State,  into  Minas  Geraes  to  the  town  of  Theo- 
philo  Ottoni,  a distance  of  three  hundred  and  seventy- 
six  kilometers.  The  second  penetrating  line  runs  from 
the  port  of  Ilheos  to  Conquista,  a distance  of  eighty-two 
kilometers.  During  the  war  and  post-war  booms  this 
was  a notable  freight  carrier  and  profit  maker,  for  the 
cacao  plantations  tributary  to  the  line  have  yielded  un- 
precedentedly large  crops  at  a time  when  every  ounce  of 
cocoa  in  the  world  has  been  called  for  at  high  prices. 
The  isolated  little  Ilheos  rolled  in  unexpected  money  in 
1915-16,  and  prospered  again  in  1919. 

Bahia’s  great  port  farther  northward  stands  on  a 
peninsula  at  the  north  of  a large,  deeply  indented, 
island-studded  bay.  There  is  no  river  delta  here  to 
assist  transportation  problems,  and  connection  between 
the  lines  originating  at  different  parts  of  the  bay  is 
rendered  difficult  by  the  depth  of  sea  inlets  and  the 
marshy  character  of  the  intervening  land.  It  is  for 


150  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

these  reasons  that  a line  runs  south  from  Nazareth, 
itself  south  of  the  bay,  west  from  Sao  Felix,  north- 
westerly from  Cachoeira,  with  the  most  important  line 
of  all  running  from  Bahia  city  across  country  until 
junction  with  the  legendary  river  S.  Francisco  is  ef- 
fected at  Joazeiro:  this  latter  line  branches  off  at 
Alagoinhas  (“Little  Lakes”)  to  Aracaju,  the  port  of 
the  little-known  State  of  Sergipe,  and  forms  the  only 
linking  railroad  of  the  series  serving  Bahia.  The  cacao 
crop  of  the  State  is  all  marketed  in  and  shipped  from 
Bahia  city:  it  reaches  that  distributing  point  from  the 
producing  centres  of  the  more  southerly  lands  by  sea,  a 
state-owned  service  of  small  steamboats,  the  “Nav- 
iga^ao  Bahiana,”  helping  in  this  transportation  work, 
besides  operating  on  the  S.  Francisco  river  and  running 
to  and  from  certain  productive  islands  off  the  Bahia 
coast.  In  1915  Bahia  exported  41,546  tons  of  cacao 
with  an  official  value  of  37,000  contos  of  reis,  or  about 
nine  and  a quarter  million  dollars,  yielding  in  taxes  to 
the  State  6,388  contos,  in  addition  to  large  sums  con- 
tributed by  the  tobacco  and  coffee  export.  As  far  as 
rail  connection  is  concerned  Bahia  is  practically  out  of 
touch  with  active  regions  of  Brazil,  but  since  her  one 
city  of  first-class  importance  is  situated  on  the  sea 
margin,  and  she  is  very  well  served  both  by  cabotagem 
and  by  ocean-going  vessels,  national  and  foreign,  no 
complaint  is  heard  in  Bahia  concerning  the  deficiency. 
The  line  from  S.  Felix,  a town  reached  by  boat  across 
the  bay  from  Bahia  which  has  achieved  fame  for  cigar 
manufacture,  penetrates  richly  producing  tobacco  coun- 
try: Nazareth  is  the  headquarters  of  a district  exporting 
manganese  ores. 

Proceeding  northward  past  the  mouth  of  the  Sao 


Rua  Barao  da  Victoria,  Pernambuco. 
Inauguration  of  Avenida  7 de  Setembro,  Upper  Town,  Bahia. 


■f 


TRANSPORTATION 


151 

Francisco  river  no  railway  is  encountered  between 
Aracaju  and  the  coconut-embowered  port  of  Maceio 
(Jaragua),  capital  of  the  State  of  Alagoas:  construction 
of  such  a link  would  involve  engineering  difficulties  in 
crossing  the  wide  river  delta  and,  north  of  it,  negotiating 
the  chain  of  picturesque  lagoons  (“lagoas”)  which 
give  the  State  its  name.  Alagoas,  wedged  under  the 
shoulder  of  Pernambuco,  is  a fine  sugar  country:  the 
lower,  business  section  of  Maceio  literally  runs  and 
drips  with  sugar;  the  warehouses  along  the  waterfront 
are  piled  with  bags  from  which  cane  juice  leaks,  and  the 
heady  smell  of  it  permeates  the  streets.  From  this 
busy,  hot  little  city  the  most  southerly  arm  of  the 
Great  Western’s  series  of  linked  lines  reaches,  a branch 
penetrating  sugar  lands  by  way  of  Atalaia  and  Viijosa, 
while  a more  northerly  track  connects  with  Garanhuns, 
runs  thence  north-east,  and,  with  a sea-ward  branch  to 
Barreiros,  connects  with  the  fan-handle  of  the  system  at 
Recife  (Pernambuco). 

The  Great  Western  of  Brazil  Railway  was  formed  in 
London  in  1872;  the  first  work  done  was  the  construc- 
tion of  one  hundred  and  eighteen  kilometers  from  the 
port  of  Recife  to  the  town  of  Timbauba  with  an  exten- 
sion to  Limoeiro;  in  1901  connection  was  carried  on  to 
the  Conde  d’Eu  line  in  Parahyba,  and  in  the  same  year 
the  company  leased  seven  other  disconnected  lines  of  the 
north-east  promontory,  with  the  object  since  attained  of 
forming  a linked  system.  Of  the  seven  thus  controlled 
three  had  been  built  by,  and  still  belong  to,  the  Govern- 
ment, while  four  were  English  built.1  As  operated  today 

1 Government:  South  of  Pernambuco,  Pernambuco  Central,  Paulo  Affonso. 

English:  Conde  d’Eu,  Recife  and  Sao  Francisco,  Central  Alagoas,  Natal 
and  Nova  Cruz.  The  Conde  d’Eu  dated  from  1857. 


152 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


the  Great  Western  line  includes  more  than  eleven 
hundred  miles  of  track,  links  and  penetrates  the  four 
States  of  Alagoas,  Pernambuco,  Parahyba  and  Rio 
Grande  do  Norte,  and  serves  the  ports  of  Maceio, 
Recife,  Parahyba,  Cabedello  and  Natal,  an  independent 
line  extending  north  of  this  point  to  the  town  of  Pedra 
Preta.  The  system  has  done  excellent  work  in  develop- 
ing sugar,  tobacco  and  cotton  country,  but  it  has  suf- 
fered from  the  financial  difficulties  of  the  last  three 
years,  droughts  reducing  the  agricultural  product  of 
northerly  regions  and  adding  to  troubles  consequent 
upon  fallen  exchange:  the  company  has  asked  the 
Federal  Government  for  relief  from  the  onerous  finan- 
cial obligations  of  the  original  contract,  and,  with  this 
revision  accomplished,  will  be  in  a better  position. 

North  from  Natal,  with  the  land  sloping  sharply 
east  towards  the  Amazon  delta,  no  more  railroads  are 
encountered  until  almost  midway  along  the  shore-line 
of  the  State  of  Ceara  the  port  of  Fortaleza  is  reached. 
From  this  point  a line  runs  south-west  into  the  interior 
to  the  town  of  Iguatu,  the  track  with  a couple  of  little 
branches  including  four  hundred  and  twenty-three 
kilometers.  Ceara  is  unenviably  famous  for  the  ter- 
rible droughts  which  from  time  to  time  scourge  and 
depopulate  it,  but  when  rains  visit  this  territory  it  is 
extraordinarily  fertile,  crops  are  abundant,  the  fecund 
Cearenses  return  and  cattle-raising  is  resumed.  A 
second  strip  of  line  runs  inland,  almost  due  south,  from 
sea-margin  Camocim  to  Granja  at  the  head  of  the  bay 
and  thence  to  Cratheus,  three  hundred  and  thirty-five 
kilometers  distant.  Exports  of  carnauba  wax,  of  a 
special  class  of  rubber  (mani^oba  = manihot),  and  of 


TRANSPORTATION 


i53 


hides,  go  out  from  the  ports  of  Ceara,  and  since  the 
last  drought  of  1914-15  broke  in  abundant  rainfall  there 
has  been  unprecedented  planting  of  fine  cotton  which 
is  said  to  promise  well.  The  next  state  northward  is 
Piauhy,  with  but  a span  of  coast  and  no  railroad  as  yet, 
although  one  is  projected  to  connect  with  Ceara. 
Maranhao  has  two  lines:  one,  planned  from  Sao  Luis 
to  Caxias,  of  which  some  separate  sections  are  already 
in  operation,  and  the  other  running  from  Caxias  to 
Cajazeiras,  serving  interior  country.  An  important 
branch,  to  penetrate  the  sertao,  is  projected  from  a 
point  along  the  first-named  line  to  Barra  do  Cordoba. 

The  last  strip  of  railway  which  serves  the  north  Bra- 
zilian coast  extends  from  Para  city  (Belem),  which  is 
situated  inside  the  mouth  of  the  Amazon  about  one 
hundred  and  sixty  miles  from  the  sea,  to  the  sea-coast 
town  Braganza,  three  hundred  kilometers  away.  The 
country  traversed  produces  Brazil  nuts,  tobacco,  cotton 
and  sugar,  and  free  grants  of  land  have  been  given  be- 
side the  track  to  settlers. 

For  the  extreme  north  of  Brazil  the  great  fluvial  net- 
work with  the  Amazon  as  the  great  main  channel  serves 
as  the  only  means  of  communication:  it  will  probably 
remain  the  sole  highway  for  a long  time  to  come.  There 
is  a total  of  over  forty  thousand  miles  of  navigable 
waterways  in  the  Amazon  valley,  with  service  by 
steamers  and  small  embarcagoes  which  suffice  for  the 
present  needs  of  this  immense  but  sparsely  populated 
territory.  The  waterways  of  Brazil  are  of  such  extent 
and  size  that  it  is  not  possible  as  yet  to  foresee  the  time 
when  they  will  be  superseded  either  by  rail  or  road. 


iS4 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


There  are  in  the  Brazilian  interior  several  strips  of 
railroad  which  serve  no  other  purpose  but  that  of  sup- 
plementing riverine  ways;  the  most  spectacular  and 
important  of  these  is  the  renowned  Madeira-Mamore, 
one  of  the  most  costly  railroads  in  the  world  and  the 
imposer  of  the  highest  tariff’s.  Planned  for  the  purpose 
of  passing  the  dangerous  falls  blocking  the  Madeira- 
Mamore  river,  outlet  for  rubber  districts  of  Peru  and 
Bolivia  as  well  as  of  the  Brazilian  State  of  Matto 
Grosso,  the  line  was  completed  in  1912  by  the  en- 
gineers of  the  Brazil  Railways  Company.  Work  was 
originally  started  more  than  forty  years  ago  by  the 
initiative  of  Colonel  Church,  two  or  three  attempts 
ending  in  failure;  when  the  last  relay  of  American  en- 
gineers took  up  the  task  in  1908  many  relics  were  found 
of  previous  effort,  one  a locomotive  imported  by  the 
Collins  expedition  of  1878:  it  was  cleaned  up  and  put 
into  use.  The  line  as  completed  has  a length  of  two 
hundred  and  ninety-two  kilometers;  the  chief  enemy  to 
construction  was  the  deadly  climate  which  took  a 
terrible  toll  of  lives  both  of  engineers  and  labourers  until 
sanitation  measures  similar  to  those  enforced  in  Panama 
were  taken. 

The  line  is  said  to  be  paying  its  way,  but  its  success 
depends  very  largely  upon  the  fate  of  Amazonian  rubber 
in  world  markets.  With  the  price  of  “hard  fine”  re- 
duced by  the  competition  of  the  rubber  of  Eastern 
plantations,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  freight  rates  over 
the  railroad  can  be  maintained  at  the  present  very 
high  scale,  necessary  in  order  to  give  a return  on  cost; 
and,  rich  as  the  tributary  country  is  in  drugs,  dyes  and 
hardwoods  there  would  have  to  be  a great  deal  of  de- 
velopment in  production  before  the  place  of  rubber 


Porto  Velho,  Madeira  River,  in  construction  period  of  Madeira-Mamore  Railway. 
Igarape  of  S.  Vicente,  Manaos. 


TRANSPORTATION 


155 


could  be  filled.  It  will  be  extremely  regrettable  if  this 
remarkable  line,  a band  of  steel  in  the  middle  of  a 
country  of  deep  wild  forests  cannot  succeed  financially: 
it  is  one  of  the  world  lines  which  are  life  as  well  as  time 
savers,  for  before  its  inauguration  the  annual  loss  in 
the  falls  of  both  freight  and  men  was  twenty-six  per 
cent.1 

Another  line  whose  raison  d’etre  is  the  necessity  for 
avoiding  falls  on  a river  is  the  Estrada  de  Ferro  Paulo 
Affonso,  on  the  S.  Francisco  river,  extending  from  the 
port  of  Piranhas  in  Alagoas  State  to  Jatoba,  in  Pernam- 
buco territory;  the  line  is  one  hundred  and  fifteen  kilo- 
meters long,  runs  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river,  and 
serves  as  a carrier  for  the  raw  material  and  output  of 
the  big  cotton-spinning  mill  ( Fabrica  da  Pedra ) recently 
established.  The  factory  obtains  power  from  the  tre- 
mendous Paulo  Affonso  Falls,  about  thirty  miles  distant, 
and  several  plans  have  been  made  to  convey  force  to 
Bahia  city,  dependent  upon  imported  fuels  for  generat- 
ing motive  power. 

The  third  interior,  river-serving  little  strip  of  railroad 
is  in  the  State  of  Maranhao,  running  from  Therezina 
on  the  Parnahyba  river,  boundary  with  Piauhy  State, 
to  Caxias;  the  fourth  is  a line  in  the  interior  of  Para,  and 
is  still  under  construction  although  about  fifty  kilome- 
ters are  in  operation.  It  runs  from  Alcobaga  on  the 
Tocantins  river  past  a series  of  troublesome  runs  and 
cascades  to  the  Praia  da  Rainha,  near  the  junction  of 
the  Tocantins  with  the  greater  Araguaya. 


1 For  details  of  extreme  interest  in  this  connection,  see  A Madeira- 
Mamore  by  Julio  Nogueira,  printed  by  the  Jornal  do  Commercio  press  of 
Rio  in  1913,  and  A Crise  da  Borracha,  by  Eloy  de  Souza,  printed  by  the 
Imprensa  Nacional,  Rio,  in  19x5. 


156  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

Railways  in  Brazil  have  thus  chiefly  served  the  set- 
tled sea  ports,  penetrating  the  producing  agricultural 
areas  behind  them;  coastwise  linking  from  town  to 
town  has  been  an  afterthought,  and  has  not  been 
greatly  needed  with  the  maintenance  of  good  shipping 
service.  The  Brazilian  lines  have  been  criticized  for 
lack  of  coherence,  but  the  fact  is  that  no  other  plan 
could  have  been  followed  at  the  time  when  Brazilian 
building  began;  mileage  may  appear  small  in  relation 
to  the  republic’s  3,300,000  square  miles  of  territory, 
but  it  is  not  poor  in  regard  to  the  great  centres  of 
population,  all  of  which  are  grouped  upon  sea  or  river 
borders  and  possess  ample  shipping  facilities.  At  the 
beginning  of  1922,  according  to  the  calculations  of 
Brazil-Ferro-Carril , there  were  twenty-one  thousand 
miles  of  railways  in  operation  in  Brazil,  with  three 
thousand  under  construction  and  twenty  thousand 
miles  projected;  as  we  have  seen,  today  a great  deal  of 
interstate  linking  has  been  accomplished,  as  well  as 
junction  with  sister  republics. 

Lack  of  coherence  in  operation  is  perhaps  more  open 
to  criticism  than  any  other  point  in  connection  with 
Brazilian  railroads.  Certain  lines  are  owned  and 
operated  by  States;  others  are  owned  by  States  but 
leased  to  private  foreign  or  Brazilian  companies;  again 
there  are  groups  of  lines  built,  owned  and  operated  by 
private  foreign  or  Brazilian  companies,  and  there  are 
lines  owned  by  the  Federal  Government  some  of  which 
are  leased  to  private  operating  companies  and  some 
operated  by  the  Government  itself.  The  building  of 
the  lines  was  extremely  cosmopolitan,  lines  having  been 
built  preponderantly  by  the  British  but  also  by  French, 
Belgian,  German  and,  in  the  case  of  the  Madeira- 


TRANSPORTATION 


i57 


Mamore,  American,  companies:  this  entailed  remarkable 
variety  in  equipment — for  instance,  when  taken  over 
by  the  Great  Western  in  1901  the  little  Sao  Francisco 
line  had  a gauge  of  five  feet  three  inches.  As  some  other 
strips  then  acquired  were  narrow  gauge  much  work  had 
to  be  done  before  a uniform  width  of  one  meter  was 
created. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  the  Federal 
Government  determined  upon  a plan  of  ownership  of 
lines  which  has  been  followed  as  far  as  finances  would 
permit;  a large  sum  of  money,  of  which  £12,935,480  is 
outstanding,  was  borrowed  in  London  at  four  per  cent 
interest  and  with  the  proceeds  many  railroads  were 
bought  up.  In  most  cases  the  Government  decided 
not  to  operate  the  lines  acquired,  and  leased  them  to 
foreign  companies.  As  a result  of  the  concession  sys- 
tem Brazilian  Federal  accounts  show  the  curious 
financial  anomaly  of  the  Government  paying  out  sums 
to  railroads  because  interest  had  been  guaranteed  on 
the  foreign  capital  invested,  while  the  same  road  is 
paying  rent  to  the  Government. 

The  lines  owned  and  operated  by  strong  British  com- 
panies are  quite  the  most  prosperous  in  the  country: 
many  of  them  were  fortunate  in  their  choice  of  locality, 
each  of  three  climbers  of  the  Serra  do  Mar  for  example 
remaining  the  only  negotiable  link  of  the  coast  with 
interior  regions:  the  Brazilian  Government,  in  common 
with  certain  of  the  other  countries  where  Federal  con- 
trol of  transportation  has  been  tried,  has  reaped  small 
financial  reward  from  lines  officially  operated. 

In  an  exposition  of  Brazilian  railway  conditions  made 
before  the  Rio  Legislature  in  October,  1915,  Elpidio  de 
Salles  declared  that  better  supervision  was  badly 


158 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


needed:  “deficits  constitute  the  normal  state  of  the 
Federal  services”  and  it  is  only  from  privately  owned 
companies  that  profits  are  obtained,  he  declared,  pro- 
ceeding to  show  that  from  systems  leased  to  other 
companies  by  the  Union  an  average  income  of  five 
thousand  contos  of  reis  is  paid  to  Brazil,  these  contribu- 
tions coming  regularly  from  the  Great  Western,  the 
Ceara-Piauhy,  the  Via^ao  Bahiana,  Sul-Mineira,  Cen- 
tral of  Rio  Grande  do  Norte,  Madeira-Mamore,  the 
Auxiliaire  and  the  Santa  Catharina  lines.  On  the  other 
hand,  Cardoso  de  Almeida  has  shown  that  the  Brazilian 
Government  has  spent  1,100,000  contos  of  reis  (at 
normal  exchange,  about  £75,000,000  or  #375,000,000) 
on  construction  and  “rescision”  of  railroads,  bearing 
the  burden  of  forty  thousand  contos  due  annually  as 
interest.  Railroad  debts  are,  however,  those  which  a 
sturdy  developing  young  land  can  bear  better  than 
older  countries  can  hope  to  do,  and  Brazil  certainly  is 
not  over-railroaded:  Argentina,  next  door,  with  a 
quarter  of  Brazil’s  population  and  one-third  of  her 
territory,  has  thirty-five  thousand  kilometers  of  line. 

Brazilian  “estradas  de  ferro”  have  nearly  all  one 
promising  feature  in  common:  they  are  pioneer  paths, 
with  new  towns  camped  beside  their  tracks,  and  new 
industries  growing  up  about  them:  with  the  exception 
of  the  old  mining  settlements  in  the  interior  of  Minas 
and  Bahia,  scarcely  any  development  existed  in  the 
Brazilian  hinterlands  until  the  railroads  drove  a way; 
nearly  all  give  access,  and  as  they  move  farther  across 
sertao  and  through  forest,  will  give  greater  access,  to 
virgin  lands  uncharted  and  unknown.  In  the  southern 
states  many  of  the  concessions  given  to  railway  com- 
panies carried  colonization  clauses  as  a continuation  of 


TRANSPORTATION 


159 


the  deliberate,  thoroughly  worked  out  plan  of  the 
authorities  by  which  during  the  nineteenth  century 
settlements  were  made  of  Poles,  Russians,  Swiss,  Ger- 
mans and  other  European  races,  with  the  object  of 
feeding  the  lines  and  stimulating  agriculture.  The 
European  War  has  checked  these  plans:  settlers  from 
Europe  will  in  all  probability  be  scarce  for  many  years 
to  come,  engaged  as  the  racked  countries  will  be  in  their 
own  rehabilitation.  But  to  other  nations  where  popula- 
tions are  crowded  or  conditions  no  longer  offer  wide 
land  spaces  and  large  agricultural  rewards,  the  railroads 
of  Brazil  open  a country  of  unsurpassed  beauty  and 
fertility. 

What  railway  construction  is  waiting  in  Brazil  for 
capital,  good  engineering,  and — an  urgent  necessity  in 
dealing  with  huge  empty  spaces — imagination?  The 
great  heart  of  Brazil,  which  is  also  the  great  heart  of 
South  America,  is  only  newly  entered  by  little  pioneer 
tracks.  What  bold  projects  could  open  up  the  interior 
sertoes  to  the  planter? 

Frontin’s  daring  scheme  to  build  a line  from  Pirapora 
(due  west  from  Caravellas  in  Bahia)  along  the  valley 
of  the  Tocantins  to  Para  has  already  been  mentioned: 
the  scheme  lags  for  want  of  money.  Another  concep- 
tion is  that  of  a railroad  which  would  run  almost 
parallel  with  the  Pirapora-Para  line:  it  would  extend 
from  Cuyaba  in  the  middle  of  the  diamond  district  of 
Matto  Grosso  almost  due  north  along  the  valley  of  the 
Tapajoz  river  to  the  town  of  Santarem,  a pretty  trading 
point  at  the  junction  of  the  black  river  with  the  yellow 
Amazon.  A third  ambitious  project  is  a railroad  to  run 
from  Manaos  northwards,  along  the  valleys  of  the  Negro 
and  the  Branco  into  British  Guiana. 


160  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

None  of  these  schemes  is  less  justified  than  the  Tran- 
sandine  line  farther  south,  the  transcontinental  lines 
across  the  United  States  and  Canada  or  that  conception 
of  Cecil  Rhodes,  the  Cape-to-Cairo  road  of  Africa.  In 
no  case  were  those  pioneer  tracks  built  to  serve  an 
existing  population — they  brought  population  and 
consequent  production  along  their  trail  over  the 
prairie  and  the  veldt,  and  these  new  Brazilian  lines 
would  bring  people  and  agriculture  into  the  sertao. 
The  climate  is  unhealthy  only  in  the  swamp  regions, 
and  railroad  construction  with  accompanying  drainage 
accomplishment  would  be  the  best  means  of  sanitizing 
the  country;  it  is  no  worse  than  many  parts  of  India, 
East  and  West  Africa,  and  the  low-lying  borders  of  the 
Caribbean  where  successful  railroads  have  brought 
malarial  jungle  into  such  a condition  that  white  men 
dwell  there  with  safety,  and  a hardy  native  race  can 
cultivate  the  rich  soil. 

Engineering  difficulties  are  probably  least  in  the 
Cuyaba-Santarem  plan.  There  is  less  matto  (thick 
woodland)  country,  no  important  system  of  serras  to 
climb;  much  of  the  track  would  run  on  the  high  level 
land  of  the  Matto  Grosso  interior.  The  regions  served 
could  be  expected  to  produce  meat  and  hides  from  the 
enormous  pastures  of  the  State;  minerals  from  the 
mountains  of  Goyaz;  hardwoods  from  the  northerly 
forests;  rubber  from  the  same  forestal  lands,  together 
with  dyes  and  drugs;  the  line  would  greatly  encourage 
cattle-raising  and  cereal  planting.  The  packing  indus- 
try is  yet  in  its  infancy  in  Brazil,  for  the  first  frigorificos 
were  only  opened  in  the  latter  part  of  1914,  and  the 
world  has  not  yet  realized  the  extent  to  which  it  may 
attain.  Brazil  has  more  head  of  cattle  than  has  the 


TRANSPORTATION 


161 


Argentine,  and  almost  illimitable  space  for  scientific 
breeding;  she  has  areas  for  cereals  which  could  make 
her  a rival  granary  of  the  world.  She  has  room  and  to 
spare  for  one  hundred  million  population. 

But  her  two  great  interior  states,  Matto  Grosso  and 
Goyaz,  the  heart  of  Brazil,  with  their  two  million,  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  square  kilometers  of 
land,  are  traversed  by  less  than  five  hundred  kilometers 
of  railroad.  Small  wonder  that  their  combined  popula- 
tion is  only  about  half  a million. 

A new  influx  of  bandeirantes  is  needed.  They  need 
the  same  big  imagination  of  their  antecessors,  the  same 
grit  and  indomitable  will:  they  should  carry  gold  in 
their  pockets,  surveying  instruments  in  their  hands,  and 
behind  them  they  should  bring  an  army  of  workmen,  in 
lieu  of  the  earlier  bandeirante’s  sword  and  slaves. 
Some  day  the  task  will  be  accomplished : it  rests  with  the 
capitalist  of  today  to  say  whether  he  or  his  successors 
will  take  it  up. 


III.  Shipping 

The  rivers  of  Brazil,  highways  of  necessity,  and  a 
wonderful  penetrating  system  in  themselves,  are  quite 
well  served;  the  Amazon  river  with  its  tributaries 
comprises  a fluvial  network  of  over  forty  thousand 
miles,  and  the  producing  areas  are  served  partly  by 
steamers  and  also  by  small  launches  and  native  em- 
barcagoes  which  fearlessly  traverse  narrow  water  lanes 
almost  closed  by  verdure,  darkened  from  the  sun  by 
walls  of  tropic  green,  and  negotiate  the  runs  and  cas- 
cades of  the  more  distant  reaches.  The  excellent  steam- 
ers of  the  Amazon  Steam  Navigation  Company  are  now 


i6z  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

part  of  the  interests  of  the  Farquhar  syndicate,  but 
formerly  belonged  to  a British  firm  which  acquired  the 
rights  of  the  early  Brazilian  operators.  To  force  the 
sale  of  the  Amazon  company,  a few  years  ago,  a number 
of  new  steamers  were  brought  from  the  United  States 
and  put  into  use;  when  rubber  boomed  there  was  freight 
for  most  of  them.  But  today,  with  the  object  of  their 
introduction  attained  and  at  the  same  time  a shrinkage 
of  commerce  upon  the  Amazon,  many  are  idle.  In 
lines  outside  the  Port  of  Para  these  vessels  are  lying, 
empty,  motionless,  just  so  much  good  money  thrown 
away  for  lack  of  foresight. 

Besides  the  ships  of  the  “Amazon  Steam”  serving  the 
route  between  Para,  and  intervening  ports  (Santarem, 
Itacoatiara,  Obidos,  etc.)  to  Manaos,  ships  run  up 
another  thousand  miles  to  Iquitos,  and  also  up  the 
Madeira  to  the  hither  side  of  the  Falls,  where  the  rail- 
road ends.  The  English  Booth  line  and  the  Lloyd 
Brasileiro  also  run  up  from  Para  to  Manaos,  and  there 
is  a service  on  the  Tapajoz  and  Tocantins  by  small 
steamers.  The  Amazon  has  all  the  riverine  service  that 
is  called  for,  and  chiefly  feels  the  need  of  more  ocean- 
going steamships. 

The  Sao  Francisco  river  is  served  by  a line  belonging 
to  the  State  of  Bahia,  the  Naviga^ao  Bahiana,  which 
runs  up  and  down  the  navigable  stretch  between  the 
headwaters  and  the  Paulo  Affonso  Falls,  touching  one 
railhead  at  Pirapora  in  Minas  Geraes  and  another  at 
Joazeiro  in  Bahia.  The  Parana  river  is  served  by  the 
ships  of  a Paulista  company,  running  up  and  down  from 
Itapura  to  the  Tibiriga  ferry,  and  up  various  affluents, 
while  every  coastal  town  traverses  its  nearby  rivers 
with  small  steamboats  privately  owned.  One  of  the 


Water-front  of  Sao  Salvador  (Bahia). 
Floating  docks  at  Manaos,  Amazonas. 


TRANSPORTATION 


163 

most  actively  traversed  water  regions  of  Brazil  is  the 
Lagoa  dos  Patos  in  southern  Rio  Grande,  where  com- 
munication between  the  towns  at  each  end  of  the  lagoon 
is  carried  on  entirely  by  boat.  The  Brazilian  has  been 
in  the  forefront  of  enterprises  helping  in  the  water 
communication  between  port  and  port  in  Brazil,  and, 
as  the  thriving  condition  of  the  Lloyd  Brasileiro  demon- 
strates, is  able  to  go  abroad  and  compete  with  foreign 
companies. 

The  Lloyd  had  a marked  advantage  after  the  War 
started  in  being  able  to  offer  neutral  transportation  for 
passengers  and  freight,  and  while  as  a matter  in  which 
all  Brazil  was  interested  the  charges  for  coffee  carrying 
were  long  kept  at  a low  level,  there  has  been  during  the 
last  year  a natural  tendency  to  raise  general  rates  under 
tempting  conditions.  When  the  British  Government’s 
Statutory  List  went  into  force  in  Brazil,  about  March, 
1916,  the  British  boats  serving  the  Amazon  were  unable 
to  carry  rubber  shipped  by  firms  of  Teutonic  owner- 
ship; the  Lloyd  thenceforth  remained  the  sole  carrier  of 
German-shipped  rubber,  and  it  appears  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  this  fact  had  something  to  do  with  the 
Lloyd’s  price  of  transportation  to  New  York  rising  to 
fifty-four  cents  per  cubic  foot  while  Booth’s  were  charg- 
ing their  British  and  their  neutral  customers  but 
thirty-four  cents.  All  South  American  services  made 
big  money  while  these  rates  held,  and  for  the  Lloyd 
palmy  days  were  especially  opportune  after  a long 
season  of  poor  returns.  In  common  with  the  Central 
Railroad,  it  has  been  in  the  past  an  instance  of  a non- 
paying governmental  company,  but  with  drastic  re- 
forms and  present  good  management  it  is  in  an  enviable 
position. 


164  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

Sea  communication  between  Brazil  and  the  rest  of 
the  world  is  carried  on  mainly  by  European  steamship 
companies:  good  work  is  also  done  by  the  fleet  of  the 
Lloyd  Brasileiro,  which  in  addition  to  serving  most 
ports  of  the  country  maintains  a busy  tri-monthly 
passenger  and  freight  service  to  New  York.  Japanese 
vessels  call  at  south  Brazilian  ports,  as  also  do  ships  of 
the  Australasian  trade;  the  most  conspicuous  laggard 
in  the  shipping  world  was  formerly  the  United  States. 
In  sailing-ship  days  American  shipping  was  busy  in 
these  waters,  but  the  lines  were  gradually  displaced  by 
more  enterprising  service  from  Europe;  before  the  war 
the  harbours  of  Brazil  sheltered  fine  ships  of  the  Royal 
Mail,  Lamport  and  Holt,  Booth,  Harrison,  Hamburg- 
American,  Compagnie  Generate  Transatlantique,  Trans- 
poses Maritimes,  the  Sud-Atlantique,  of  Italian  and 
Austrian  lines,  Scandinavian,  Belgian,  Dutch — every 
flag  was  common  but  that  of  the  United  States,  and 
when  this  entered  it  was  at  the  stern  of  an  oil  tanker  or  a 
sailing  vessel  bringing  lumber.  The  lines  connecting 
with  Europe  were  many;  sailings  to  New  York  were  few; 
service  from  New  York  direct  to  Brazil  was  still  rarer, 
for  the  European  lines  created  a dexterous  commercial 
triangle  by  which  merchandise  of  European  origin  came 
across  the  Atlantic  to  Brazil  in  ships  which  discharged 
their  hardware  and  textiles,  took  on  a load  of  coffee  and 
hides  for  New  York,  there  discharged  the  Brazilian  goods 
and  re-loaded  with  North  American  grain  or  cotton  and 
with  this  steamed  across  the  Atlantic  home  again. 

The  war  stimulated  direct  service  between  the  United 
States  and  Brazil,  several  lines  now  competing  for 
business  formerly  held  by  Europeans;  fast  steamers 
offer  quick  passenger  and  freight  service,  following  the 
hasty  war  revival  of  the  wood-built  sailing-ship: 


TRANSPORTATION 


i65 

during  1915  there  was  a remarkable  increase  of  ac- 
tivity in  these  vessels,  and  the  writer  has  seen  ten  or 
more  at  the  same  time  lying  in  some  bright  Brazilian 
port,  their  long  graceful  lines  of  the  schooner  taking 
one  back  to  the  days  of  Midshipman  Easy  or  Tom 
Cringle  of  the  famous  Log.  Many  shipowners  of  these 
sailing  craft  must  have  made  fortunes,  for  whereas  in 
normal  times  they  would  have  gladly  carried  freight 
for  three  dollars  a ton,  they  were  able  to  get  four  to 
four  dollars  and  a half  and  so  on  in  an  ever  ascending 
scale  until  over  fourteen  dollars  was  taken,  and  with 
a somewhat  haughty  sniff  at  that  in  late  1916. 

In  1916  the  only  steamers  under  the  United  States 
flag  operating  in  Brazilian  waters  were  oil  tankers, 
the  coal-carriers  of  the  Berwind  company,  and  the  ves- 
sels of  the  United  States  & Brazil  S.  S.  line,  carrying 
the  products  of  the  United  States  Steel  corporation  and 
taking  back  manganese  ores  and  general  cargo.  Later, 
with  the  creation  of  a big  American  mercantile  marine 
by  the  U.  S.  Shipping  Board,  and  the  allocation  of  a 
large  number  of  ex-German  steamers  to  the  service 
of  the  United  States,  strongly  sustained  direct  lines 
between  North  American  and  Brazilian  ports  were 
created  which  carry  immense  quantities  of  coffee  in 
exchange  for  manufactured  goods.  Chilean,  Cuban, 
Peruvian,  Argentine  and  Uruguayan  vessels  now  visit 
Brazil  from  sister  Republics,  and  her  own  mercantile 
marine  has  undergone  a remarkable  development. 

Not  only  did  the  Cia.  Nacional  de  Navega^ao  Cos- 
teira  and  the  Cia.  Commercio  e Navega^ao  add  in  a 
most  enterprising  manner  to  their  fleets,  but  the  Lage 
firm  created  important  repairing  and  ship-building  yards 
upon  an  island  in  Rio  Bay,  which  performed  great  serv- 
ice to  the  Allies  during  the  war;  and  the  Government- 


1 66 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


supported  Lloyd  Brasileiro  began  to  send  its  steamers 
far  afield  to  North  American  and  European  waters. 

The  list  of  the  Lloyd’s  vessels  presently  received 
notable  additions.  At  the  outbreak  of  war  a large 
number  of  German  and  Austrian  steamers  took  refuge 
in  Brazilian  ports,  and  there  lay  for  two  and  a half 
years,  idle  and  rusting.  After  Brazil’s  entry  into  the 
conflict  many  of  these  ships  were  brought  into  use, 
seventeen  being  added  to  the  national  fleets,  while 
twenty-eight  were  chartered  to  France.  By  the  middle 
of  1922  France  had  returned  these  vessels  in  first-class 
condition,  and  the  bulk  of  them  were  permanently 
added  to  the  Brazilian  mercantile  marine,  the  Lloyd 
counting  forty  ex-German  steamers  out  of  her  total 
fleet  of  one  hundred  and  two.  Brazil’s  claim  for  the 
price  of  the  coffee  seized  by  Germany  at  the  beginning 
of  the  war,  for  the  four  Brazilian  vessels  torpedoed, 
and  the  maintenance  of  about  seven  thousand  German 
sailors,  is  offset  by  the  value  of  these  merchants  ships. 

Smaller  Brazilian  lines  are  the  Amazon  River  Steam 
Navigation  Co.;  the  Cia.  de  Navega^ao  de  Maranhao; 
the  Cia.  de  Navegagao  Bahiana;  the  Empreza  Brasil- 
eira  de  Navegagao;  the  Lloyd  Nacional;  and  the  Lloyd 
Transatlantic©  Brasileiro.  The  service  to  Brazil  per- 
formed by  the  home-registered  lines  is  proved  by  statis- 
tics: for  out  of  24,736  vessels  calling  at  Brazilian  ports 
during  1920,  19,542  were  under  the  flag  of  Brazil.  It 
is  true  that  the  size  of  the  ships  was  comparatively 
small,  the  tonnage  of  nearly  25,000,000  being  divided 
between  15,000,000  “Foreign”  and  10,000  Brazilian, 
but  the  low  average  is  due  to  the  small  boats  employed 
in  various  riverine  services.  The  Brazilian  merchant 
service  is  the  largest  in  South  America  and  performs 
invaluable  interstate  transport  work. 


CHAPTER  V 


INDUSTRIES 

THE  COFFEE  INDUSTRY  OF  BRAZIL 

The  huge  coffee  industry  in  Brazil  will  not  receive  a 
great  deal  of  space  in  this  book  for  two  reasons:  the  first 
is  that  the  subject  needs  a special  monograph  to  deal 
with  it  thoroughly,  and  there  is  an  entire  literature  on 
the  subject,  especially  excellent  in  French,  Portuguese 
and  Italian;  the  second  reason  is  that  coffee  culture  and 
marketing  is  so  highly  organized  that  there  is  little 
room  for  outside  enterprise.  Existing  plantations  are 
probably  quite  capable  of  taking  care  of  what  new 
planting  may  be  required — and  this  likely  to  be  in  the 
immediate  future:  the  drastic  checks  given  to  planting 
by  the  authorities  after  the  terrible  fright  of  the  great 
over-production  of  1906,  that  led  to  the  much-discussed 
Valorization,  have  done  their  work  so  thoroughly  that 
at  the  present,  with  the  elimination  of  many  thousands 
of  trees  owing  to  exhaustion,  there  is  room  for  extended 
planting  on  Sao  Paulo  and  Minas  fazendas.  Brazilians, 
to  whom  life  on  a fazenda  is  always  pleasant,  are  large 
owners  of  coffee-producing  lands,  and  are  quite  aware  of 
economic  conditions,  as  well  as  being  experienced  grow- 
ers and  exporters  of  coffee.  I do  not,  therefore,  advise 
any  tyro  to  enter  upon  the  business  of  a coffee  fazenda; 
such  plantations  offer  good  opportunities  for  invest- 
ment, but  apart  from  that  angle  do  not  call  for  outside 
activity. 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


1 68 

There  are  many  foreigners  in  the  coffee-producing 
business  in  Brazil,  of  course.  Italians,  besides  supplying 
a very  large  percentage  of  the  labour  on  the  S.  Paulo 
estates,  are  considerable  owners  of  plantations;  the 
Dumont  Estates,  English  owned  and  operated,  are 
world  famous;  and  the  greatest  single  owner  of  coffee 
trees  in  the  world,  possessor  of  thirteen  million  shrubs, 
is  Francisco  Schmidt,  who  began  life  in  Brazil  as  a poor 
German  immigrant. 

The  first  coffee  plants  brought  to  Brazil  were  of  the 
liberica  variety  and  were  planted  in  Para  at  sea-level,  a 
situation  to  which  this  kind  is  not  averse.  This  was  in 
1727  and  when  in  1761  the  Mother  Country  remitted 
taxes  on  coffee  from  her  American  possessions,  cultiva- 
tion was  encouraged  and  spread  south  to  Maranhao, 
Ceara,  Espirito  Santo,  Minas  and  Rio,  eventually 
reaching  the  red  diabasic  soils  of  Sao  Paulo.  The 
variety  grown  here  is  chiefly  cafe  arabica,  preferring  an 
upland  habitat,  but  in  the  course  of  years  Brazil  has 
developed  hardy  hybrid  varieties  of  her  own. 

A couple  of  sacks  of  coffee  are  said  to  have  been  sent 
out  from  the  south  early  in  the  nineteenth  century,  but 
real  business  did  not  develop  until  after  Dom  Joao 
arrived  and  promulgated  laws  freeing  Brazilian  trade 
from  its  swaddling  clothes.  Between  1835  and  1840 
export  began  in  large  quantities,  the  latter  year  record- 
ing 1,383,000  sacks  sent  abroad  for  sale;  slave  labour 
was  used,  and  the  interior  was  searched  for  the  deepest 
blood-red  lands,  found  in  their  richest  belts  in  Sao 
Paulo  State. 

By  the  year  1870  Brazil  was  exporting  three  million 
sacks  annually  (of  sixty  kilos,  or  about  one  hundred  and 
thirty  pounds,  each);  before  the  end  of  the  century  the 


INDUSTRIES 


169 


output  was  ten  million  sacks,  but  meanwhile  Brazil 
passed  through  a severe  labour  crisis.  Abolition  of 
slavery  in  1888  left  the  plantations  without  an  adequate 
supply  of  workers:  it  was  necessary  to  supplement  the 
free  negro  element  remaining  at  work  with  more  “bra- 
vos”— the  eternal  need  of  Brazil.  Experiments  had 
already  been  made  in  colonization  by  Dom  Pedro,  and 
these  proved  the  excellence  of  the  Italian  labourer; 
prompt  measures  were  taken  by  the  State  as  well  as  by 
private  fazendeiros  to  bring  agricultural  workers  from 
North  Italy,  the  breach  was  filled,  and  so  successfully 
that  today  out  of  a population  of  three  million  people  in 
S.  Paulo  State,  one  million  are  Italians.  Disputes 
occurred  in  early  years  owing  to  the  disparity  of  race, 
and  partly  the  lack  of  experience  of  the  planter  in  deal- 
ing with  white  labour,  but  the  State  Government  took 
up  the  cudgels  on  the  part  of  the  immigrant,  saw  to  it 
that  he  was  paid  justly  and  that  his  condition  was 
economically  sound — to  the  great  advantage  of  coffee 
cultivation  in  Brazil.  This  was  the  work  of  the  Pa- 
tronato  Agricola , a Brazilian  invention  which  owes  much 
to  Dr.  Sampaio  Vidal;  its  successful  operation  was 
instrumental  in  contenting  the  immigrant  who  came  to 
work  on  coffee  plantations,  and  while  it  was  at  first 
regarded  with  suspicion  by  some  fazendeiros,  eventually 
received  their  cordial  co-operation  as  a source  of  mutual 
benefit. 

Not  only  Sao  Paulo  but  the  coffee-growing  regions  of 
interior  Rio,  Minas,  and  Espirito  Santo,  sought  immi- 
grants officially:  in  spite  of  efforts  there  was  no  section 
of  Brazil  so  successful  as  the  southern  State.  Colonos 
who  were  brought  to  Minas  melted  away  to  Sao  Paulo, 
perhaps  chiefly  on  account  of  the  “sympathy  of  num- 


i7o  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

bers.”  Sao  Paulo  eventually  remained  the  only  State 
with  an  organized,  active  immigration  system. 

At  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century  big  prices  were 
paid  for  coffee:  on  a few  occasions  a sack  fetched  one 
hundred  and  thirty-five  francs,  and  large  quantities 
were  sold  at  ninety-five  and  ninety-seven  francs.  Cost 
of  production  was  about  fifty  francs,  and  sixty-six  was 
considered  a fair  return  on  investment;  the  industry 
was  greatly  stimulated  by  these  profits  and  planting 
began  feverishly  all  along  the  lines  of  deposit  of  the 
richest  red  soils.  These  new  plantations  came  into 
bearing  four  or  five  years  later,  and  in  the  crop  season  of 
1906-07  a staggering  yield  was  ready  for  an  over- 
whelmed market.  The  bounty  of  nature  brought  Brazil 
face  to  face  with  ruin. 

Sao  Paulo  State  harvested  15,392,000  bags;  Rio  de 
Janeiro  State  offered  4,245,000  bags;  Espirito  Santo  and 
Bahia  together  had  another  half  million.  Altogether 
Brazil  had  over  20,000,000  bags  of  coffee  for  sale,  to  a 
world  whose  annual  consumption  was  then  not  much 
more  than  17,000,000  bags;  and  in  addition  to  the  new 
Brazilian  crop  there  was  a harvest  from  Mexico  and 
Central  America  of  1,500,000  bags,  from  Colombia  of 
1,000,000,  with  another  half  million  from  the  East  and 
400,000  from  the  West  Indies — and  the  not  to  be 
ignored  contribution  of  real  Mocha  coffee  of  115,000 
bags. 

Nor  was  that  all.  There  had  been  a big  Brazilian 
crop  in  1901-02,  reaching  the  then  unprecedented  figure 
of  15,000,000  sacks,  and  with  a world  consumption 
at  that  time  of  only  13,000,000  there  was  a large  sur- 
plus of  this  coffee  left  in  hand,  as  well  as  stocks  of 
other  varieties.  Prices  went  down,  and  the  planter  was 


INDUSTRIES 


171 

only  saved  by  the  imminence  of  a fall  in  exchange 
which  meant  that  although  his  coffee  sold  for  less  gold 
than  normally,  yet  this  gold  brought  so  much  more 
Brazilian  paper  when  exchanged  that  he  was  able  to 
pay  operating  expenses  and  still  count  a profit  in  na- 
tional currency. 

From  a gloomy  level  of  thirty  francs  a bag,  coffee 
rose  in  1904-05  to  about  forty  and  fifty  francs;  but 
the  threatening  feature  of  the  situation  was  retention  in 
world  warehouses  of  a stock  averaging  11,000,000  bags. 
When  Brazil  was  confronted  with  20,000,000  bags  of 
the  new  1906  crop  she  thus  had  to  consider  a market 
which  already  held  seven-tenths  of  the  coffee  needed 
annually  by  the  world,  apart  from  other  sources  of  new 
supply. 

To  throw  her  coffee  upon  Europe  and  the  United 
States  meant  the  ruin  of  the  premier  industry  of  Brazil. 
After  a series  of  hotly  debated  discussions,  which  had 
begun  with  the  menace  of  the  big  crop  of  1902,  the 
State  of  Sao  Paulo,  with  the  support  of  the  Federal 
Government  and  in  agreement  with  the  States  of  Rio 
and  Minas,  decided  upon  the  famous,  greatly  abused 
and  passionately  defended  Valorization  Plan.  The 
methods  adopted  may  be  open  to  criticism,  but  some 
remedy  had  to  be  sought,  and  the  plan  had  the  merit  of 
boldness  as  well  as  the  sanction  given  by  success;  the 
fact  that  this  success  was  partly  adventitious  would 
probably  prevent  recourse  to  like  measures  at  future 
times.  The  “Taubate  Agreement”  forming  the  base  of 
the  plan  obliged  the  contracting  states  to  sell  their 
coffee  at  not  less  than  a given  price,1  to  prevent  exporta- 
tion of  grades  below  Type  Seven;  to  commence  prop- 

1 32  to  36  milreis  for  the  first  year  and  40  afterwards,  for  Type  Seven  beans. 


172 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


aganda  work  abroad  to  increase  coffee  sales;  to  collect  a 
surtax  of  three  francs  per  bag  on  all  exports;  and  to 
limit  new  planting  of  coffee.  It  was  farther  suggested 
that  the  surtax  proceeds  should  be  held  by  the  Federal 
Government  and  used  for  the  amortization  of  the  loan 
to  be  made,  creating  a Caixa  de  Emissao  e Conversao  to 
deal  with  financial  aspects  of  the  Plan  and  to  regulate 
exchange — an  excellent  measure  which  was  eventually 
carried  out. 

Difficulties  checked  the  original  agreement  and  in 
the  end  Sao  Paulo  faced  the  situation  alone — mean- 
while the  harvest  was  coming  in,  and  the  price  of  coffee 
dropped  below  thirty  francs  a bag — obtaining  a pre- 
liminary loan  of  £1,000,000  on  August  I,  1906,  from 
the  Brasilianische  Bank  fur  Deutschland,  for  a one- 
year  term;  in  December  £2,000,000  was  obtained 
through  J.  Henry  Schroeder  & Company  of  London,  and 
subsequently  the  National  City  Bank  of  New  York 
negotiated  another  million  sterling.  The  money  was 
used  to  buy  and  store  the  coffee  of  the  Brazilian  planta- 
tions, and  was  rendered  sufficient  only  by  the  co- 
operation of  fazendeiros  and  exporting  houses. 

In  June,  1907,  Sao  Paulo  held  8,000,000  bags  of 
coffee,  buying  only  high  types  and  through  the  sole 
agency  of  Theodore  Wille  and  Company,  a strong 
coffee  exporting  firm  of  Brazil.  When  Minas  and  Rio 
protested  against  the  exclusion  of  their  eight  and  nine 
type  coffees  from  the  stores,  the  Federal  Government 
at  last  actively  assisted,  lending  the  State  of  Sao  Paulo 
ten  million  francs  for  the  purchase  of  the  lower  types. 
In  July,  1907,  S.  Paulo  stopped  buying.  She  had  ac- 
quired over  8,000,000  bags,  one-third  of  the  total  pur- 
chase price  of  400,000,000  francs  coming  from  foreign 


INDUSTRIES 


173 


loans  and  the  remainder  from  advances  by  commission 
houses  in  Brazil  on  coffee  consigned  to  their  keeping. 
Subsequent  sums  for  the  redemption  of  this  coffee 
were  obtained:  two  million  pounds  sterling  came  from 
Rothschild’s  through  the  Federal  Government,  and  a 
similar  sum  was  obtained  by  the  lease  of  the  (State) 
Sorocabana  railway  to  the  Farquhar  syndicate. 

With  the  exception  of  a few  hundred  thousand  sacks 
all  this  coffee  was  sent  to  different  world  markets  for 
storage  until  opportune  sales  could  be  made;  for  a whole 
year  not  one  ounce  of  it  was  sold,  and  then,  when  the 
next  Paulista  harvest  turned  out  to  fill  only  five  million 
bags,  the  preciously  guarded  coffee  was  dealt  out 
warily  to  a firm  market  at  an  average  price  of  sixty 
francs  a bag.  Without  this  action  Brazilians  say  that 
the  price  must  have  fallen  to  twenty  francs. 

At  the  end  of  1908  financial  adjustments  were  made; 
older  debts  were  covered  by  a new  loan  of  £15,000,000 
arranged  with  an  international  syndicate  headed  by 
Schroeder  of  London  and  the  Societe  Generale  of  Paris. 
These  houses  took  £5,000,000  each,  and  the  remainder 
was  distributed  between  Germany,  Belgium  and  New 
York.  The  loan  was  guaranteed  by  the  coffee  surtax, 
raised  to  five  francs  a bag,  and  by  the  seven  million 
bags  remaining  in  international  warehouses.  Havre, 
with  nearly  two  million  bags,  was  the  greatest  holder 
of  the  valorized  coffee,  and  it  continued  to  be  sold 
during  the  next  five  years  only  when  the  price  offered 
profits. 

When  the  European  War  broke  out  stocks  of  this 
coffee  amounting  to  three  million  sacks  still  lay  in  the 
countries  suddenly  rendered  belligerent — it  should  be 
mentioned  here  that  coffee  improves  by  careful  keep- 


174  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

ing.  The  combined  stocks  in  Hamburg,  Bremen  and 
Trieste  totalling  1,200,000  bags  were  at  once  taken 
over  by  the  Teutonic  governments,  and  the  price 
(about  £4,500,000)  paid  to  a Berlin  bank;  it  got  no 
farther  because  proceeds  of  the  coffee  sales  being 
mortgaged  to  London  bankers,  transfer  would  “benefit 
the  enemy.”  Germany  was  in  this  case  only  following 
the  same  financial  rules  as  other  belligerents,  but 
Brazil  was  placed  in  the  invidious  position  of  innocent 
bystander,  and  in  1922  was  still  trying  a way  out  of 
the  difficulty.  Adding  the  value  of  the  Antwerp  stock 
also  under  German  control  (718,000  sacks)  Sao  Paulo 
was  owed  nearly  seven  million  pounds  sterling,  and  this 
sum  together  with  the  price  of  the  Havre  stock,  1,216,- 
000  bags,  was  about  equal  to  the  foreign  debt  of  S. 
Paulo. 

Although  payment  for  the  seized  coffee  stocks  was 
necessarily  delayed,  Sao  Paulo  was  by  this  suddenly 
opened  market  for  her  coffee  relieved  of  the  anxious 
time  that  might  otherwise  have  been  hers  after  the 
1914-15  crop  was  harvested.  A large  crop  was  once 
more  the  result  of  perfect  climatic  conditions  fol- 
lowing small  colheitas  (harvests)  of  one  or  two  previous 
years. 

Early  in  1915  the  Federal  Government  prepared 
to  lend  Sao  Paulo  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
contos  of  reis  with  which  advances  were  to  be 
made  to  planters,  enabling  the  retention  of  surplus 
coffee — a variant  of  the  valorization  plan  which  was 
more  generally  approved.  But  by  good  fortune  sales 


INDUSTRIES 


J75 


of  Brazilian  coffee  far  exceeded  expectation;  the  Scan- 
dinavian countries  enormously  increased  their  pur- 
chases and  although  a general  idea  prevailed  that  it  was 
largely  passed  on  to  Germany,  no  objection  was  for  a 
long  time  raised  by  the  Allies. 

Country  1913  1915  1920 

United  States..  . . 4,914,730.  ..  . 7,061,319.  ..  . 6,248,000  bags  of  60  kilos. 

Germany 1,865,632 545,000  “ “ “ “ 

France 1,846,944....  2,449,223....  1,540,000  “ “ “ “ 

Netherlands 1,483,097....  1,486,994....  376,000  “ “ “ “ 

Austria 1,016,824 80,000  “ “ “ “ 

Belgium 444,988 320,000  “ “ “ “ 

Argentina 249,045....  269,987....  285,000  “ “ “ “ 

Great  Britain ...  . 246,161....  413,786....  73,000  “ “ “ “ 

Italy 237,126....  710,800....  1,002,000  “ “ “ “ 

Sweden 212,034....  2,333,386....  386,000  “ “ “ “ 

Spain 108,928....  106,329....  145,000  “ “ “ “ 

Total  exports.  . 13,267,449.  ...  17,061,319.  ...  11,525,000  “ “ “ “ 

Prices,  1921 — down  to  7 m.  bag;  1922  15816  m.  In  1921  shipments  were 
checked  by  the  slump,  and  the  Brazilian  Government  bought  and  held 
4,500,000  bags.  Prices,  fallen  to  7 milreis  in  1921,  recovered  to  over  15 
milreis  per  10  kilos  in  early  1922. 

Agricultural  maps  of  Brazil,  freely  and  courteously 
handed  to  any  visitor  at  the  Escriptorio  do  Informa^oes 
do  Brasil  in  the  rue  St.  Honore  in  Paris,  show  a huge 
patch  of  green  in  the  middle  of  S.  Paulo  State  and  ex- 
tending to  a point  very  near  the  frontier  of  Minas 
Geraes.  This  patch  represents  some  seven  hundred 
and  twenty-two  million  coffee  trees,  covering  a total 
space  of  over  two  million  acres. 


1 76  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


At  least  one  hundred  million  pounds  sterling  is  in- 
vested in  coffee  plantations,  and,  with  an  output  of 
an  average  twelve  million  bags,  income  from  crops  is 
not  less  than  twenty-five  million  pounds  sterling  a year. 

Advancing  into  the  interior  when  the  advent  of  rail- 
roads made  cultivation  of  the  sertao  a commercial 
possibility,  the  culture  of  coffee  in  Brazil  and  especially 
in  Sao  Paulo  is  carried  on  upon  a large  scale:  the  plan- 
tations are  great  businesses,  scientifically  operated. 
The  number  of  trees  on  a good  estate  is  likely  to  run 
up  into  millions,  although  no  other  single  grower  rivals 
Colonel  Schmidt’s  production  of  eleven  or  twelve 
thousand  tons  of  coffee.  Visiting  a fine  fazenda  one 
is  aware  of  seeing  the  inside  of  a commercial  under- 
taking of  striking  magnitude,  where  activity  is  regu- 
larized, the  whole  life  of  the  fazendeiro  and  the  colonos 
subordinated  to  the  supreme  interest — at  least  during 
the  rush  season  of  the  colheita.  Looking  from  the 
windows  of  the  fazendeiro' s residence,  which  is  generally 
upon  a little  eminence,  one  sees  an  ocean  of  dark  green 
shrubs,  planted  in  perfectly  even  lines,  stretching  away 
in  unbroken  symmetry  as  far  as  the  eye  can  see.  The 
Sao  Paulo  land  chosen  for  coffee  very  often  lies  in  long 
gentle  slopes,  its  deep  purple-carmine  tint  in  sharp 
contrast  to  the  glossy  emerald  coffee  leaves,  and  down 
and  up  over  the  undulations  run  the  rows,  often  extend- 
ing for  eight  or  ten  kilometers.  The  storehouses,  pulp- 
ing machinery,  and  great  cement  drying  grounds 
where  the  coffee  is  laid  in  the  sun,  are  frequently  in  the 
hollow  where  the  indispensable  river  runs;  rows  of  neat 
little  houses  of  labourers,  the  Italian  colonos  who  plant, 
cultivate  and  gather  the  coffee,  stand  within  sight. 
In  the  background  is  the  area  of  wild  woodland,  for 


The  S.  Paulo  Co  fee  Industry. 

Labourers’  houses;  the  coffee  harvest;  drying  grounds;  view  of  coffee  plantation. 


INDUSTRIES 


1 77 


“no  fazenda  can  prosper  unless  it  has  a certain  amount 
of  matto,”  say  the  Brazilians.  In  the  flowering  season 
a coffee  estate  is  a lovely  sight,  the  sturdy  shrubs 
strewn  so  thickly  with  waxy  white  blossoms  that  it 
seems  as  if  snow  had  fallen  on  them;  the  air  is  clean, 
cool  and  sunny,  and  bees  hum  over  the  sweet-scented 
flowers.  The  trees  are  larger  than  those  seen  in  Central 
America,  are  unshaded,  and  generally  three  or  four 
roots  stand  together  to  make  the  bush.  The  ground 
beneath  the  shrub  is  kept  carefully  weeded. 

When  the  round  berries  turn  red  harvesting  begins. 
Men,  women  and  children  turn  out,  trained  to  strip 
the  berries  from  the  slender  little  branches  without 
injuring  the  tree;  the  whole  fazenda  is  in  a bustle,  the 
water-channels  are  racing  with  scarlet  berries  carried 
along  in  the  stream,  and  the  machinery  house  is  noisy. 
When  the  berries  are  pulped  and  the  twin  beans  freed 
and  cleaned,  the  business  of  packing  begins;  day  by 
day  wagon  loads  of  sacks  leave  the  fazenda  for  Sao 
Paulo  city,  consigned  to  Santos,  and  thence  to  some 
country  overseas.  Brazilians  appear  to  love  fazenda 
life;  the  wife  of  a coffee  fazendeiro  will  often  take  as 
keen  and  business-like  an  interest  in  the  work  as  her 
husband  does,  discusses  theories  of  planting  with 
spirit,  and  will  show  you  all  the  details  of  the  new  im- 
ported machinery.  There  is  a true  hospitality  and 
geniality  permeating  th e fazenda  in  Brazil;  very  large 
sums  are  often  made,  and  while  quantities  of  coffee 
money  have  been  royally  wasted  on  extravagances, 
there  is  a class  of  strong  business  men  in  plantation 
work  who  put  profits  into  improvements,  follow  new 
ideas,  and  build  up  their  estates  from  year  to  year  in 
an  admirable  manner. 


178 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


It  is  in  Sao  Paulo,  and  especially  about  Riberao 
Preto,  Campinas,  Sao  Simao,  S.  Carlos,  Dous  Corregos, 
Botacatu, — all  along  the  lines  of  the  fans  of  railroad — 
that  the  great  coffee  estates  are  found.  The  original 
Coffea  Arabica  has  some  naturalized  children  in  Brazil 
of  great  merit  and  hardihood;  the  Nacional  or  Commun, 
the  delicate  Bourbon , yellow  Botacatu , the  big  aromatic 
Maragogype,  all  have  their  defenders.  From  these 
plantations  come  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  tons 
of  coffee  that  have  made  Brazil  the  premier  coffee 
country  of  the  world,  and  brought  her  to  this  eminence 
in  a remarkably  short  space  of  time.  The  development 
of  coffee  culture  in  Brazil,  and  the  simultaneous  de- 
velopment of  public  taste  for  its  essence,  is  one  of  the 
great  industrial  stories  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  interior  of  Rio  State,  with  its  endless  series  of 
little  round  hills  crowned  with  coffee  shrubs,  is  an 
assiduous  producer;  farther  inland  Minas  Geraes  sub- 
stituted cotton  with  coffee  when  the  United  States 
began  to  sweep  world  markets  with  her  product,  but  is 
now  going  back  to  cotton  here  and  there  as  the  demand 
of  her  own  factories  brings  unheard-of  prices  for  native 
fibres;  she  is  however  a regular  supplier  of  coffee,  in 
common  with  her  neighbour  Espirito  Santo,  and  the 
more  northerly  state  of  Bahia.  North  of  Bahia  com- 
mercial production  ceases,  but,  as  in  the  case  of  cotton, 
shrubs  may  be  seen  all  along  the  Brazilian  littoral,  up  to 
Maranhao  and  Para— of  an  African  variety  which  does 
not  need  hilly  country. 

The  world  is  steadily  drinking  more  coffee.  Con- 
sumption was  only  able  to  take  ten  million  bags  in  1885: 
the  estimate  for  1922  is  22  million  bags.  It  is  this 


INDUSTRIES 


179 


reflection  which  preserves  the  fazendeiro  from  having 
nightmare  whenever  he  sees  a fine  colheita  promising. 
Increased  sales  of  coffee  seem  to  be  partly  the  result  of 
greater  world  demand  for  non-alcoholic  drinks,  but 
have  been  undoubtedly  developed  wherever  a sys- 
tematic propaganda  has  been  carried  out.  Sao  Paulo 
State  went  deliberately  and  level-headedly  into  the 
advertising  and  demonstration  business;  the  campaign 
was  first  started  in  Great  Britain,  by  the  Sao  Paulo 
Pure  Coffee  Company,  which  roasts,  packs  and  sells 
good  grades  of  beans.  Numbers  of  cafeterias  were 
established  in  which  strong,  hot,  sweet  Brazilian  coffee 
was  perfectly  served.  Later  on  the  plan  was  carried  to 
other  European  countries — notably  France,  Germany 
and  Austria,  all  good  customers  of  Brazil — to  North 
America  and  even  to  Japan. 

Recently  the  Sao  Paulo  Pure  Coffee  Company  was 
acquired  by  the  Brazilian  Warrant  Company,  an  enter- 
prising house  established  in  Brazil,  with  branches  in 
Sao  Paulo  city,  Santos,  and  Rio  de  Janeiro,  and  head- 
quarters in  London:  a specialty  is  made  by  this  com- 
pany of  advances  against  coffee,  as  well  as  sugar,  cereals 
and  general  merchandise,  while  they  are  also  commis- 
sion and  consignment  agents.  Exporters  of  Brazilian 
coffee  are  legion,  but  it  is  instructive  to  note  how  large  a 
proportion  of  the  names  listed  are  Brazilian;  coffee  is 
not  one  of  the  businesses  which  the  South  American 
leaves  to  the  foreigner. 

Coffee  accounts  for  forty  per  cent  of  all  the  Brazilian 
export.  As  far  as  S.  Paulo  is  concerned,  coffee  repre- 
sents over  ninety-seven  per  cent  of  her  exports.  In 
1915  the  state’s  total  exports  were  worth  a little  over 


180  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

465,000  contos,  and  of  this  coffee  was  worth  453,000 
contos.  In  S.  Paulo  city  itself  if  one  is  not  in  business 
circles  the  predominance  of  coffee  might  escape  the 
visitor  but  not  so  in  Santos;  here,  in  the  coffee  port,  the 
apparatus  of  shipping  has  largely  been  constructed  with 
coffee-loading  as  the  aim:  special  mechanisms  serve  the 
ceaseless  stream  of  laden  coffee  bags  that  arrive  at  the 
lines  upon  lines  of  armazens  (warehouses)  on  the  dock 
front.  In  the  stony  streets  the  scent  of  coffee  prevails; 
at  every  doorway  burly  negroes  are  hauling  out  sacks  of 
the  aromatic  bean;  the  cluster  of  banks  down  the  main 
business  street,  some  Brazilian  and  many  branches  of 
foreign  houses,  all  live  upon  coffee.  The  dealers,  com- 
mission men,  shippers,  roasters  of  coffee  represent  the 
commercial  existence  of  the  port. 

The  coffee  industry  is  one  which  is  a satisfaction  to 
contemplate  because  it  is  a clean,  wholesome  business, 
from  first  to  last;  the  conditions  under  which  it  is  car- 
ried on  are  not  only  ably  organized  and  in  a prospering 
state,  but  the  workers  as  well  as  the  estate  owners  and 
shippers  have  a chance  to  make  money  and  lead  pleas- 
ant lives. 

THE  RUBBER  INDUSTRY  ON  THE  AMAZON 

Rubber,  the  elastic  gum  bled  from  certain  trees  and 
shrubs,  has  been  so  long  associated  in  thought  with  the 
sweltering,  shadowy  forests  of  the  great  Amazon  river, 
that  it  is  not  a matter  for  wonder  that  for  many  years 
after  Wickham  made  his  famous  experiments  with 
rubber  seeds,  first  in  Kew  and  then  in  the  East,  both 
Brazilians  and  the  general  public  paid  little  heed  to  the 
possibility  of  plantation  rubber  as  a commercial  rival  of 


INDUSTRIES 


181 


the  Amazonian  product.  It  was  not  until  1910  that 
manufacturers  began  to  take  plantation  rubber  se- 
riously and  to  use  it  freely,  and  not  until  1912-13  that 
production  from  these  sedulously  cared-for  trees  drew 
level  with  and  surpassed  the  output  from  Brazil.  To- 
day, with  plantation  rubber  offering  something  like  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  tons  of  crude  rubber,  and 
Brazil  maintaining  her  average  output  of  about  thirty- 
seven  thousand  tons,  the  race  would  be  a very  uneven 
one  if  it  were  not  for  one  factor,  the  wonderful  resiliency 
of  “hard  fine  Para”  which  renders  it  unequalled  in 
quality. 

The  two  industries,  that  of  Brazil  and  of  Malaysia, 
are  strikingly  at  variance  in  almost  everything  except 
the  fact  that  they  deal  with  extraction  of  the  latex  of 
hevea  brasiliensis.  In  Brazil  we  have  enormous  areas  of 
dim,  sultry,  water-bordered  forest,  where  wild  rubber 
trees  are  sought  for  amongst  eighty  or  so  other  va- 
rieties of  trees:  where  the  labourer  is,  or  at  least  imag- 
ines himself  to  be,  a free  agent,  bound  only  by  his  debt 
to  the  central  store,  working  when  he  thinks  fit,  living 
in  a solitary  hut  without  society,  and  making  a little 
balance  of  profit  at  the  end  of  the  season  if  he  is  lucky; 
he  buys  all  his  necessities  of  food  and  tools  in  the  dearest 
market  in  the  world,  and  sells  at  the  price  forced  upon 
the  Amazon  by  the  rival  industry  half  the  world  distant. 
In  the  East  is  an  organized  industry  operated  by 
wealthy  companies,  where  land  was  cleared,  rubber 
planted  methodically,  hired  labourers  working  under 
control,  paid  by  the  day,  where  the  latex  is  coagulated 
in  factories,  milled  into  fine  sheets,  and  goes  to  market 
in  a form  that  does  not  bear  outwardly  any  relation  to 
the  big  black  balls,  smoke-cured  in  the  seringueiro’s  hut, 


182 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


sent  out  from  the  Amazon.  Nevertheless  it  is  the  un- 
organized, unscientific  industry  which  yields  the  prod- 
uct with  the  highest  price  on  international  markets,  and, 
huge  as  is  the  deluge  of  plantation  rubber  today,  there 
is  no  good  reason  why  the  Eastern  and  Amazonian 
industries  should  not  continue  side  by  side.  Arabian 
coffee  has  not  been  commercially  ruined  on  account  of 
Brazilian  production  of  coffea  arabica. 

There  are  in  the  world  very  many  plants  and  trees 
yielding  rubber  of  differing  qualities.  Three  kinds  of 
elastic  gum  are  exported  from  Brazil  in  addition  to  the 
latex  of  the  heveas:  they  are  known  as  mangabeira  rub- 
ber, from  mangabeira  hancornia  speciosa;  manigoba, 
from  the  manihot  plants  of  several  kinds  (euphorbias, 
and  first  cousins  of  mandioca);  and  caucho,  drawn  from 
the  castilloa  elastica  tree.  All  these  have  their  places  in 
world  markets,  but,  as  also  in  the  case  of  balata  from 
the  Guianas,  and  the  gum  of  the  guayule  shrub  in 
Mexico,  it  is  not  upon  these  rubbers  that  the  great 
manufacturing  industries  of  the  world  are  based.  That 
distinction  belongs  to  the  heveas,  native  dwellers  of  the 
deep,  hot  Amazonian  valleys. 

The  elastic,  resilient,  waterproof  properties  of  rubber 
were  first  discovered  by  the  native  children  of  the 
Americas,  both  in  South  and  Central  America  and 
Mexico.  When  Hernan  Cortes  took  his  handful  of 
conquering  Spaniards  into  Mexico  he  found  the  Aztecs 
playing  a game  with  bouncing  balls  made  from  castilloa, 
but  during  three  centuries  the  Europeans  visiting  the 
New  World  did  not  dream  of  turning  the  gum  to  any 
utilitarian  purpose.  The  first  traveller  who  took  re- 
corded note  of  native  use  of  rubber  for  water-proofing 
was  the  French  scientist,  de  la  Condamine,  who  came  to 


INDUSTRIES 


183 


Peru  and  travelled  down  the  Amazon  in  1743.  He  took 
specimens  of  what  he  spelled  as  “caoutchouc”  back  to 
Paris.  In  1779  Priestly  noticed  that  the  gum  would 
erase  pencil  marks  on  paper;  small  pieces  were  sold  for 
this  purpose,  and  as  the  chief  supplies  came  from  the 
East  Indies  (from  the  ficus  elastica ) the  name  India- 
rubber  clung  to  the  product.  In  1823  Charles  Mac- 
intosh found  that  rubber  was  soluble  in  benzine,  and  so 
led  the  way  to  its  commercial  adaptation — thinned  out, 
spread  into  sheets,  rendered  amenable;  the  idea  applied 
to  waterproof  coats  immortalized  his  name. 

In  1832  the  Chaffee  & Hoskins  firm,  founded  in  the 
United  States,  began  manufacturing  water-resisting 
objects,  and  thus  laid  the  foundation  of  the  present 
great  rubber  business  in  North  America;  their  com- 
pany, the  Roxbury  India  Rubber  Co.,  had  in  its  em- 
ploy a young  man  named  Goodwin,  and  when  this  ex- 
perimenter discovered  that  the  gum  would  resist  great 
extremes  of  heat  and  cold  when  sulphur  was  mixed  with 
the  solution,  the  process  of  “vulcanization”  was  the 
result,  and  rubber  was  made  applicable  to  a score  of 
new  uses.  Its  great  commercial  employment  dates 
from  this  time. 

The  Amazon  valley  began  to  send  coagulated  gum 
abroad:  before  this  occurred,  objects,  chiefly  high  boots, 
were  sent  all  the  way  to  Para  to  be  water-proofed  with 
a series  of  layers  of  the  fresh  latex.  The  industry  was 
still  in  existence  in  the  1850’s,  but  died  a natural  death 
when  rubber  manufacturing  got  into  its  stride.  It 
did  not  make  this  movement  until  large  quantities  of 
crude  rubber  began  to  reach  world  markets,  and  such 
amounts  were  not  shipped  until  the  Amazon  received 
a great  addition  to  its  labour  supplies.  In  1877-79 


184  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


one  of  the  terrible  droughts  that  scourge  the  State  of 
Ceara  drove  the  populace  out  of  the  foodless  region; 
hardy,  daring,  the  Cearenses  swarmed  up  the  Amazon, 
into  the  reaches  of  the  upper  tributaries,  into  the 
Acre,  searched  the  forests  for  seringueiras,  and  gathered 
a great  harvest  of  latex.  A little  later  the  bicycle  was 
invented  and  popularized,  rubber  tyres  were  called  for 
in  addition  to  the  established  demand  from  the  boot 
and  shoe  trade,  and  rubber  export  became  one  of  the 
big  businesses  of  the  industrial  world. 

The  Amazon  had  shipped  31  tons  in  1827;  156  tons 
in  1830;  388  tons  in  1840.  In  another  ten  years  she  was 
shipping  1,467  tons;  in  i860,  2,673  tons;  1870,  6,591 
tons;  1880,  8,680  tons.  Three  years  later  she  was  send- 
ing over  11,000  tons,  year  by  year  adding  about  1,000 
tons  until  by  1890  the  supply  and  demand  came  to 
19,000  tons.  It  may  be  said  here  that  up  to  the  present 
demand  has  invariably  taken  the  year’s  supply;  with 
great  volumes  coming  from  the  Eastern  plantations  a 
surplus  may  occur,  but  with  the  present  greatly  stimu- 
lated demand  such  a condition  is  not  yet  in  sight. 

Steady  rises  in  Amazonian  production  went  on  at 
the  end  of  the  century,  and  1903  registered  the  receipt 
of  over  thirty  thousand  tons;  when  in  1906-07  the 
crop  attained  thirty-eight  thousand  tons  output  it 
had  about  reached  its  maximum  with  the  quantity  of 
labour  available  upon  the  Amazon.  Production  has 
fluctuated  about  this  figure  for  the  last  ten  years.  It 
could  be  increased,  if  the  estimate  of  300,000,000  un- 
tapped trees  in  the  deep  interior  forests  is  anywhere 
near  the  mark,  to  almost  any  amount;  but  the  present 
production  is  the  work  of  some  one  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  seringueiros,  chiefly  Brazilians,  with  some 


INDUSTRIES  185 

Bolivians  and  Peruvians,  and  there  is  no  immediate 
prospect  of  labour  supplies  being  largely  augmented. 

The  sensational  leaps  in  prices  that  have  occurred 
in  world  markets  since  rubber  became  commercialized 
have  brought  great  quantities  of  money  to  the  Amazon; 
many  fortunes  rocketed  to  the  skies,  and  there  was  a 
period  when  a golden  flood  flowed  up  the  river  as  well 
as  down,  when  Manaos,  the  rubber  city  of  the  riverine 
interior,  displayed  more  luxury  for  its  size  than  Paris, 
and  the  best  diamond  market  in  the  world  was  in  this 
remote  spot.  Anything  sufficiently  extravagant  could 
be  sold;  a stream  of  jewels,  silks,  fine  wines  and  foods, 
furniture,  carriages,  adventuring  people  and  solid  cash 
went  up  the  Amazon,  passing  for  a thousand  miles 
nothing  but  the  green  matted  walls  edging  the  huge 
yellow  river  and  an  occasional  palm-leaf  shack  perched 
half  in  the  water,  and  one  or  two  trading  points,  to  find 
their  objective  in  the  brilliant  little  mushroom  town 
on  the  Rio  Negro.  There  was  one  year  when  the  yield 
of  taxes  from  rubber  to  the  public  revenue  of  Amazonas 
was  twenty-three  thousand  contos  of  reis,  and  this  at 
an  exchange  of  over  £66  to  the  conto,  means  £1,520,000 
or  nearly  #8,000,000.  Practically  the  whole  of  this 
money  was  collected  and  spent  in  Manaos,  then  (1899- 
1900)  a city  of  fifty  or  sixty  thousand  population — 
much  of  it  “floating,”  as  its  present  reduction  to 
about  forty  thousand  demonstrates.  It  was  in  the 
golden  period  of  Amazonian  rubber  exports  that  both 
Manaos  and  Para  clothed  themselves  in  all  modern 
civic  graces;  fine  public  buildings,  well-paved  streets, 
street-cars,  good  sanitation,  water-supplies  of  unim- 
peachable source,  electric  light,  and  numbers  of  splen- 
did private  dwellings  remain  as  a return  for  some  of 


1 86  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

the  floods  of  money  earned  by  the  gum  of  the  deep 
forests.  There  was  at  the  same  time  tremendous  waste 
and  an  enthusiastic  “graft”  era,  which  has  left  a heavy 
burden  of  debt  upon  the  Amazon.  Numbers  of  un- 
finished buildings,  some  begun  at  great  cost,  still  stand 
in  Manaos,  eloquent  witnesses  to  the  headlong  gambling 
spirit  that  informed  this  city  a few  years  ago.  The 
Amazon  refused  to  believe  that  any  but  temporary 
shadows  could  fall  upon  the  rubber  industry:  there  had 
been  several  periods  of  depression  from  various  causes 
before  plantation  rubber  loomed  into  view,  but  always 
“something  happened  to  help  the  Amazon,”  whether 
quickened  demand  or  a fall  in  exchange  which  reduced 
local  costs;  now  the  European  War  is  operating  to 
stimulate  American  demands  for  Brazilian  rubber,  and 
to  that  extent  faith  in  good  luck  is  again  justified,  but 
the  rubber-producing  centres  will  need  good  works  as 
well  as  faith  if  the  present  rewards,  comparatively 
modest  as  they  are,  are  to  be  maintained. 

In  1874,  and  for  some  years  afterwards,  Amazonian 
rubber  prices  ranged  between  fifty-two  and  seventy- 
five  cents  (U.  S.  currency)  a pound;  between  1879  and 
1880  there  was  a quick  climb,  due  to  the  bull  opera- 
tions of  a Brazilian  syndicate  which  bought  and  held 
rubber.  It  was  temporarily  successful,  prices  during 
the  last  year  of  the  ring’s  existence  touching  one  dollar 
and  twenty  cents  and  never  falling  below  ninety-five 
cents,  but  in  1884  the  bottom  fell  out,  and  rubber  took 
a hasty  dive  to  forty-eight  cents — recovering,  how- 
ever, in  the  course  of  the  next  year,  in  response  to  de- 
mand for  rubber  tyres,  to  ninety-eight  cents.  For  the 
next  ten  years  rubber  fluctuated  about  sixty,  seventy 
and  eighty  cents,  with  new  industrial  uses  developing 


INDUSTRIES 


187 


in  Europe  and  North  America  and  demand  always 
keeping  pace  with  supply;  by  this  time  the  total  yield 
offered  to  the  markets  was  about  fifty  thousand  tons 
yearly,  the  Amazon  supplying  half  and  the  rest  coming 
from  West  Africa,  Mexico  and  Central  America.  In 
1896  the  price  rose,  ranging  between  ninety  cents  and 
one  dollar  and  twelve  cents,  and  the  Amazon  boomed 
again  as  it  had  done  twelve  years  before;  Manaos,  the 
terminus  of  ocean  transportation  and  the  central  col- 
lecting point  for  the  rubber  of  the  upper  rivers,  bedecked 
herself  in  these  rosy  days.  Five  years  later  the  failure 
of  the  American  Crude  Rubber  Company,  a distribut- 
ing firm  domiciled  in  New  York,  threw  large  stocks  of 
the  goma  upon  unready  markets,  and  the  price  slumped. 
Rubber  merchants  upon  the  Amazon  would  have  suf- 
fered more  than  they  actually  did  had  not  the  factor 
of  exchange  come  to  their  aid;  between  1899  and  1906 
the  value  of  the  milreis  oscillated  all  the  way  from 
sixpence  to  fifteenpence,  and  while  to  some  Brazilian 
operations  a low  rate  of  exchange  meant  embarrass- 
ment if  not  ruin,  it  spelt  salvation  to  the  dealer  in 
raw  products.  In  1906  exchange  was  fixed  by  the 
establishment  of  the  Conversion  Office  in  Rio,  but  by 
this  time  rubber  was  fetching  such  good  prices  that 
the  Amazon  was  again  basking  in  prosperity.  The 
prices  paid  for  Amazonian  rubber  during  the  period 
from  1903  to  1915  show  the  rise  of  the  third  great  crest 
of  rubber  waves  to  the  dazzling  height  of  1910,  when 
the  merchants  who  would  have  sold  at  seventy-five 
cents  and  made  a profit  found  themselves  with  a dollar 
and  a half,  two  dollars,  two  and  a half  and  then  three, 
without  knowing  why;  money  came  like  dew  from 
heaven.  In  many  instances  it  also  melted  as  readily: 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


188 


1903  78  to  1. 13  cents 

1904  94  to  1.30 

I9°5 1-18  to  1.35 

1906  1.22  to  1.37 

1907  82  to  1. 21 

1908  67  to  1.24 

1909  1.20  to  2.15 

1910  1.50  to  3.00 

1911  93  to  1.75 

1912  93  to  1.30 

^913 59  to  1. 10 

9H 49  to  1. 15 

1915 75  to  1. 00 


While  the  feverish  drama  of  the  Amazon  was  going 
through  scenes  typical  of  a gold-mining  rush,  the  cur- 
tain was  slowly  rising  upon  another  rubber  scenario 
away  over  on  the  islands  and  peninsulas  of  Malaysia. 
Its  movement  passed  almost  unnoticed  and  unheeded 
by  the  very  people  who  had  most  cause  to  watch  it  with 
alarm. 

In  1871  an  Englishman  named  Henry  Alexander 
Wickham  sailed  from  Trinidad  up  the  Orinoco  river, 
there  studied  latex-yielding  trees  and  eventually  made 
his  way  to  the  Amazon  through  the  interior  forests  by 
way  of  the  river  Negro.  His  book  of  notes  was  pub- 
lished in  London  in  1872 — Rough  Notes  of  a Journey 
Through  the  Wilderness , with  his  own  excellent  drawings 
to  illustrate  his  story  of  actual  labour  in  the  “ciringa” 
districts.  In  1876  he  was  back  again  on  the  Amazon, 
with  the  idee  fixe  of  rubber  so  firmly  in  his  head  that, 
going  up  the  Tapajoz  from  Santarem,  he  filled  his  cases 
with  seventy  thousand  seeds  of  hevea  brasiliensis  and 
carried  them  over  to  Kew  Gardens  in  London.  Here 


INDUSTRIES 


189 

in  carefully  graduated  hot  houses  the  oval,  mottled 
seeds  were  germinated,  and  in  June  of  the  same  his- 
toric year  Wickham  was  carrying  his  baby  seedlings  to 
Ceylon,  believing  that  this  island  offered  the  climate 
most  similar  to  that  of  the  Amazon  to  be  found  under 
the  British  flag. 

Two  thousand  nurslings  were  thus  transplanted  to 
the  Spice  Isle,  lesser  quantities  going  to  Java,  British 
Burma,  Singapore  and  other  points  which  appeared  to 
offer  the  needed  conditions  for  healthy  growth.  It 
was  in  Ceylon  that  the  first  young  rubbers  flowered  in 
the  year  1881 ; there  is  no  earlier  record  of  the  blossom- 
ing of  heveas  outside  their  habitat  in  the  Amazonian 
valleys.  The  resulting  seeds  were  used  to  create  new 
plantations,  but  the  whole  thing  was  still  in  a purely 
experimental  stage;  time  proved  that  many  saplings 
were  planted  under  incorrect  conditions,  but  the  plant- 
ers had  nothing  but  theory  as  their  guide;  they  cleared 
land — at  great  expense — kept  it  clean  while  the  young 
plants  grew,  and  waited;  they  did  not  know  if  the 
heveas  would  live,  or  that,  living,  they  would  produce 
latex  coagulating  into  commercial  rubber.  Nor  did 
the  Amazon  rubber  dealers  know  it  or  believe  it.  When 
tales  of  Wickham’s  enterprise  came  to  Brazil  a law  was 
passed  forbidding  the  export  of  rubber  seeds,  but  this 
locking  of  the  stable  door  after  the  loss  of  the  steed 
was  of  no  more  avail  than  the  subsequent  measures 
promulgated  to  prevent  export  of  the  uricury  nuts 
used  for  smoking  the  latex. 

That  the  Amazonian  industry  could  be  duplicated  in 
the  East  was  not  seriously  credited.  The  thing  was 
impossible!  The  plants  would  die;  or  if  they  did  not 
die  they  would  not  yield  latex;  if  they  yielded  latex  it 


i9o  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

would  coagulate  into  such  wretched  rubber  that  no 
market  would  accept  it.  Disease,  blight,  drought, 
would  ruin  the  presumptuous  plantations — something, 
in  fact,  must  happen  to  prevent  such  an  incredible, 
absurd  event  as  rivalry  between  the  famous  and  unique 
“black  gold”  of  the  Amazon  and  a plantation  step- 
child. The  few  people  who  spoke  out  about  the  danger 
were  ignored. 

While  unbelievers  still  protested  the  deluge  of  plan- 
tation rubber  began.  In  1900,  4 tons  of  crude 
rubber  were  exported  from  the  East;  in  1905,  145 
tons;  in  1910,  over  8,000  tons;  in  1912,  over  28,000 
tons;  in  1914,  w'ell  over  71,000  tons;  in  1915,  nearly 
107,000  tons.  The  output  for  1916  is  variously  reck- 
oned at  140,000  and  160,000  tons,  from  an  area  totalling 
about  1,350,000  acres  in  Ceylon,  Malaysia,  Dutch  East 
Indies,  India  and  Borneo. 

When  plantation  rubber  was  first  offered  to  manu- 
facturers they  were  not  greatly  interested;  it  was  taken 
rather  grudgingly  and  at  prices  well  below  those  paid 
for  the  black  pelles  of  the  Amazon  to  whose  perfections 
and  imperfections  the  industry  was  thoroughly  accus- 
tomed. It  was  the  artificial  forcing  up  of  prices  in 
1910  that  sent  manufacturers  into  the  arms  of  the 
planters,  for,  while  plantation  rubber  profited  by  the 
golden  rain  of  that  year,  it  did  not  attain  the  value  of 
“fine  hard  Para.”  Today  plantation  rubber  sent  to 
the  markets  in  sheets  of  creamy  “crepe”  or  clear  brown 
gum  is  used  for  almost  every  manufacture  demanding 
rubber;  there  are  still  some  complaints  that  it  is  over- 
milled, that  the  treatment  it  undergoes  takes  the 
“nerve”  out  of  it,  and  for  this  reason  Amazonian 
rubber  remains  triumphant  in  certain  lines  requiring 


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191 

the  highest  resiliency — as,  for  instance,  rubber  thread. 
In  spite  of  the  preponderance  of  quantity  of  the  planta- 
tion product  since  1913  there  has  nearly  always  been 
a margin  of  price  in  favour  of  Brazil;  during  September 
and  October,  1916,  “fine  hard  Para”  fetched  about 
seventy-five  cents  a pound  in  the  New  York  markets 
while  Plantation  only  brought  sixty-five  (due  to  short- 
age of  Amazonian  supplies  through  shipping  difficulties 
as  well  as  droughts  upon  the  upper  rivers  which,  im- 
peding navigation,  prevented  normal  supplies  from 
finding  exit);  the  difference  in  price  is  larger  than  is 
apparent,  for  reasons  resulting  from  differences  of 
preparation  of  the  two  products.  Plantation  rubber, 
product  of  an  organized  modern  industry,  is  placed 
upon  markets  in  such  a form  that  the  manufacturer 
can  send  it  direct  to  his  mills;  the  average  amount  of 
impurities  contained  in  the  sheets  is  less  than  one 
per  cent.  Amazonian  rubber  on  the  other  hand  con- 
tains anything  from  fifteen  to  forty  per  cent  of  im- 
purities, which  may  include  leaves,  sticks  and  dirt  due 
to  sheer  carelessness,  or  gums  other  than  that  of  hevea , 
old  nails,  lumps  of  wood  and  axe-heads,  deliberately 
introduced  by  the  seringueiro  to  add  weight  to  his 
pelle.  Add  to  these  considerations  the  cost  of  clean- 
ing Amazonian  rubber  and  the  loss  in  time  while  this 
operation  is  performed,  and  it  is  plain  that  the  manu- 
facturer really  pays  a great  deal  more  than  the  few 
cents’  difference  of  the  market  price  for  the  Brazilian 
product;  this  money  advantage  might  be  largely  re- 
tained by  the  Amazon  if  methods,  not  necessarily  those 
of  the  East,  but  more  careful  and  cleanly,  were  em- 
ployed in  coagulation. 

The  entire  series  of  processes  of  Amazon  rubber 


192 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


production,  from  the  day  when  the  matteiro  clears  a 
path  in  the  forest  from  rubber  tree  to  rubber  tree,  until 
the  shipper  boxes  the  split  halves  of  the  pelles  in  the 
armazem  in  Manaos  or  Para,  is  in  remarkable  contrast 
not  only  to  plantation  methods,  but  to  the  system  under 
which  that  other  great  Brazilian  export  staple,  coffee,  is 
prepared  for  market.  It  is  the  contrast  between  an 
industry  that  has  evolved  itself  from  methods  first 
discovered  by  Indians  of  the  forest  interior,  and  an- 
other whose  processes  are  mapped  out  on  a precon- 
ceived plan.  To  this  day  the  rubber  dealers  on  the 
Amazon  will  tell  you  that  they  do  not  know  the  cost 
of  production  of  a kilo  of  rubber;  all  that  they  or  the 
collectors  know  with  certainty  is  that  it  must  neces- 
sarily cost  less  than  the  price  at  which  the  rubber  is 
marketed — a smaller  amount  must  be  paid,  and  adjust- 
ment has  to  be  made  in  the  seringal , not  in  New  York 
or  London;  with  the  inflated  prices  paid  for  every 
simplest  necessity  of  life  upon  the  Amazon,  nearly  all 
imported  because  the  craze  for  rubber-collecting  some 
years  ago  led  to  the  abandonment  of  even  such  prolific 
crops  as  beans  and  mandioca,  a time  of  stress  falls  most 
severely  upon  the  people  who  are  least  able  to  bear  it. 
Remedies  for  the  ills  of  the  Brazilian  rubber  industry 
have  been  suggested  and  demanded  for  many  a year 
by  the  more  far-seeing  Brazilians;  there  is  perhaps  no 
better  presentment  of  the  subject  than  the  paracer 
read  to  the  Brazilian  Congress  in  December,  1913,  by 
Eloy  de  Souza,  afterwards  published  in  Rio  under  the 
title  A Crise  da  Borracha  (The  Rubber  Crisis);  he 
speaks  of  the  condition  of  “economic  paradox”  by 
which  Amazonas  “gave  millions  upon  millions  of  gold 
without  any  part  of  this  being  used  for  the  prosperity 


INDUSTRIES 


193 


of  the  immense  region  where  so  much  wealth  was  pro- 
duced” and  tells  that  when  plantation  rubber  was 
looming  in  competition  with  the  Brazilian  product  the 
authorities  were  entreated  to  arm  themselves  against 
the  danger,  but  “the  echo  of  these  voices  was  lost  in 
the  wide  desert  of  national  indifference.”  When  the 
truth  could  be  no  longer  avoided  steps  were  at  last 
taken,  with  nothing  but  the  waste  of  enormous  sums 
in  the  tragi-comedy  of  the  “Defesa  da  Borracha”  as 
the  result:  its  failure  was  no  fault  of  the  men.  who 
constantly  spoke  out  about  conditions,  such  as  Miguel 
Calmon,  the  Deputy,  the  journalist  Alcindo  Guana- 
bara,  Dr.  Passos  de  Miranda,  and  the  “genial  and  de- 
voted Apostle  of  the  Amazon,”  Euclydes  da  Cunha. 

Almost  all  of  the  people  engaged  or  interested  in  the 
rubber  business  of  the  Amazon  are  agreed  upon  certain 
measures  which  should  be  taken  to  put  it  upon  a sounder 
footing;  they  are,  briefly: — 

1.  Increased  production  of  cleaner  rubber,  whether  ob- 

tained from  Amazonian  plantations  or  by  opening 
out  new  forestal  wild  regions. 

2.  Reduction  of  living  expenses  of  the  rubber-collector, 

by  increased  Amazonian  cultivation  of  cereals, 
beans,  mandioca,  fruit,  vegetables,  etc. 

3.  Creation  of  a sturdier  and  larger  labour  supply,  by 

rendering  rubber  regions  healthy,  improving  living 
conditions,  and  thus  inviting  and  retaining  per- 
manent dwellers. 

4.  Reduction  of  export  taxes  imposed  by  the  State 

authorities  of  the  rubber  regions. 

The  question  of  Amazon  plantations  is  hotly  de- 
bated. A few  exist,  and  are  living  proofs  of  the  fact 
that  planted  rubber  kept  clean  of  other  growth  yields 


194 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


latex  at  four  or  five  years,  at  which  time  it  is  as  large 
as  a wild  rubber  twelve  years  old;  but  opponents  of 
the  system  ask  why  they  should  plant  “ when  Nature 
has  already  planted?”  and  declare  that  the  best  thing 
to  do  is  to  tap  the  latex  of  more  of  the  reserves  of  the 
interior,  calculated  at  three  hundred  million  trees. 
Arguments  in  favour  of  this  system  include  insistence 
upon  the  superiority  of  the  latex  from  matured  trees 
slowly  developed  in  their  native  habitat,  the  chief 
reason  of  the  high  resilient  quality  of  the  Amazonian 
product;  it  is  along  the  upper  rivers  of  the  Amazonian 
fluvial  network  that  the  “black”  hevea  is  found  most 
abundantly,  yielding  latex  of  the  best  variety,  tough, 
elastic,  resilient,  and  always  fetching  a better  price 
than  the  fraca  (weak)  rubber  from  the  latex  of  the 
“white”  hevea , or  the  product  of  the  “red,”  which 
coagulates  badly,  and  is  listed  as  “entre  fina”  instead 
of  “fina.”  It  is  partly  because  the  seeds  which  Wick- 
ham took  from  the  Tapajoz  in  1876  were  of  the  “white” 
hevea  brasiliensis  variety,  common  in  these  lower 
regions,  that  the  product  of  the  plantations  is  more  or 
less  of  the  “fraca”  quality;  only  a few  hundred  acres 
of  the  entire  Eastern  area  under  cultivation  is  planted 
with  the  fine  “black”  rubbers. 

Can  the  untouched  rubber  regions  of  the  upper  rivers 
be  opened  up?  The  districts  richest  in  seringueiras 
are  frequently  on  the  margins  of  these  rivers,  accessible 
by  boat,  but  there  are  other  areas  thickly  sown  with 
the  trees  which,  as  in  the  Acre  Territory,  could  be 
served  best  by  a railroad  line,  such  as  has  been  pro- 
jected to  run  across  this  region.  Other  plans  deal 
with  drainage  of  forestal  areas,  now  rendered  exceed- 
ingly unhealthy  by  their  swampy,  mosquito-breeding 


INDUSTRIES 


195 


condition,  and  the  introduction  of  immigrants  accus- 
tomed to  torrid  climates.  At  present  the  working 
capacity  of  the  collector  is  reduced  from  a possible 
two  hundred  and  ten  days,  during  the  seven  months 
of  tapping,  to  an  average  of  one  hundred  and  twenty, 
chiefly  as  the  result  of  sickness:  he  produces  thus  only 
about  four  hundred  and  fifty  kilos  of  dry  rubber,  when 
under  better  conditions  he  could  be  expected  to  market 
about  seven  hundred  kilos. 

A few  years  ago  Dr.  Oswaldo  Cruz,  a Brazilian  au- 
thority on  tropical  diseases,  made  a report  upon  the 
health  conditions  of  certain  Amazonian  regions  and 
those  traversed  by  the  Madeira-Mamore  railway:  he 
said  of  Santo  Antonio  that  there  are  “no  natives  of  this 
place;  all  children  born  there  die,”  and  that  here  (its 
ill-fame  is  not  unique)  “the  region  is  infected  in  such  a 
manner  that  its  population  has  no  conception  of  what 
good  health  means;  for  them  the  normal  condition  is 
sickness.”  Brazilians  born  are  as  much  subject  to 
disease,  it  appears,  as  strangers,  for  among  the  work- 
men employed  in  the  construction  of  the  Madeira- 
Mamore  line  ninety  per  cent  of  the  natives  of  Brazil  and 
seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  foreigners  were  weakened  by 
hookworm.  Sharp  changes  of  temperature  in  some 
districts,  producing  a devastating  pneumonia;  dysen- 
tery; beri-beri,  and  the  worst  and  constant  scourge, 
malarial  fever,  haunt  certain  of  the  interior  regions: 
until  a better  medical  service  is  established,  and  meas- 
ures taken  to  render  the  country  more  healthy  through 
engineering  work,  and  through  field  cultivation,  an 
increase  of  permanent  dwellers  in  the  deep  rubber 
regions  cannot  be  expected.  Until  then  Amazonia  can 
scarcely  be  other  than  what  Eloy  de  Souza  calls  an 


196  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


“invaded  region”  which  has  been  subjected  to  a “social 
phase  of  pure  conquest.” 

Cheapening  of  living  expenses  can  be  done  just  as 
soon  as  the  fertile  Amazon  valley  again  supplies  enough 
food  for  its  population:  there  was  a time,  between  1886 
and  1891  when  the  cereals  grown  sufficed  for  needs; 
today,  with  the  threat  of  falling  prices  for  the  precious 
goma,  cultivation  has  been  resumed  to  an  extent  which 
is  encouraging,  but  only  a year  or  two  ago  Para,  Ama- 
zonas and  the  Acre  were  together  importing  beans,  rice, 
and  sugar  to  the  value  of  11,346  contos  (over  three 
million  dollars);  dried  meat  (xarque)  to  the  value  of 
7,400  contos;  bacalhau  (dried  cod),  846  contos;  live 
cattle,  2,000  contos;  tobacco,  1,000  contos,  and  con- 
serves costing  2,600  contos,  among  other  importations. 
Almost  all  the  above  list  could  be  filled  from  Amazonia 
if  the  rubber-collecting  fever,  relaxing,  permitted  the 
development  of  other  industries. 

The  price  paid  for  many  articles  of  prime  necessity 
upon  the  Amazon  is  fantastic.  While  such  rates  are 
maintained  it  is  a matter  for  admiration  that  Am- 
azonian rubber  can  be  placed  upon  the  markets  at  all, 
in  competition  with  the  plantation  product;  it  can  only 
be  done  by  the  reduction  of  the  seringueiro’s  earnings  to 
a minimum,  and  this  will  eventually  lead  to  his  extinc- 
tion if  conditions  are  not  remedied.  The  following  is  a 
list  of  what  are  considered  the  chief  articles  needed  by 
the  collector  for  his  lonely  sojourn  in  the  forests  during 
the  gathering  season,  with  prices  in  milreis: — 


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197 


Price  in 

In  the 

Price  to  Ride- 

Rio 

In  Para. 

Acre 

ber-collector 

5 alqueires  of  farinha  1 . . 

20 

. . .272500. . . 

. IOO 

...  175 

40  kilos  of  sugar 

14 

...  26 

• 45 

...  80 

25  kilos  of  coffee 

24 

...25 

• 34 

IOO 

128  kilos  of  lard 

l6 

...  20 

. 36 

. . . IOO 

50  kilos  dried  meat 

40 

...40 

• 77 

...  150 

50  kilos  of  feijao  (beans' 

12.500. 

...15 

. 51 

. . . IOO 

16  pounds  of  tobacco  . . . 

II 

. . .22 

• 53 

120 

5 gallons  of  kerosene.  . . . 

4 

...  4 

.11 

...  30 

Half-sack  of  salt 

I 

...  12500... 

. 8 

...  15 

40  kilos  of  rice 

20 

...  20 

• 36 

IOO 

Half-case  of  soap 

3 

...  4 

. 11.500. 

20 

30  litres  cachaja  (rum) . . 

is 

...15 

. 46 

. . . 105 

3 boxes  cartridges 

24 

...30 

• 33 

. . . 45 

Medicines,  clothes,  etc. . . 

120 

. . 130 

. 180 

. . . 250 

Total 

324^500. 

..3802 

.7212500. 

• • • 1 -39°# 

The  price  of  an  outfit  for  the  season  thus  varies  from 
about  324  milreis  in  Rio  to  1390  milreis  in  the  forest, 
or  between,  say,  80  and  nearly  350  dollars. 

If  the  collector  in  the  course  of  his  season’s  work 
produces  four  hundred  and  fifty  kilos  of  rubber,  worth, 
at  a good  price  of  about  five  milreis,  2:250^000  (two  and 
a quarter  contos,  or  about  five  hundred  and  sixty  U.  S. 
dollars  at  1916  exchange),  he  has  left  only  seven  hun- 
dred and  fifty  milreis  to  carry  him  through  the  rest  of 
the  year,  and  to  support  his  family  back  in  Ceara:  but 
even  this  modest  sum  is  reduced  by  the  river  freight  of 
the  rubber  before  it  is  marketed  at  Manaos  or  Para, 
three  hundred  reis  per  kilo;  rent  of  the  seringal,  commis- 
sion to  the  aviador,  and  frequently  freight  of  the  pelles 
from  the  interior  of  the  forest  to  the  water,  which  items 
are  likely  to  add  up  to  another  four  or  five  hundred 
milreis. 

Denunciations  of  the  “truck”  system,  and  the  prices 

1 Alqueire  = 40  litres:  Farinha  = flour  (of  mandioca). 


1 98  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


charged  to  the  rubber  collector  are  common;  but  the 
supplier  of  foodstuffs,  etc.  (the  aviador ) himself  takes 
long  risks  and  is  bound  to  insure  himself  against  them. 
His  customer  ( aviado ) may  become  ill  and  unable  to 
work;  he  may  die;  he  may,  if  he  can  elude  the  river 
guards  and  traverse  the  steaming  interior  forests,  run 
away,  although  in  these  regions  where  the  river  is  the 
only  highway,  this  does  not  often  happen.  Also  the 
price  of  rubber  may  drop — rubber  has  been  a business 
so  speculative  that  it  has  become  a gamble  in  which  the 
aviador , himself  caught  in  a deeply-rooted  system,  takes 
long  odds.  He  makes  money  nearly  always,  and  the 
ownership  of  much  of  the  great  areas  of  Amazonian 
rubber  forest  has  passed  into  his  hands,  but  he  is 
scarcely  to  be  blamed  for  securing  his  profits  in  the 
manner  decreed  by  the  system;  to  change  the  industrial 
routine  would  be  to  effect  a revolution  upon  the  Am- 
azon. 

The  approach  of  the  dry  season  upon  the  Amazon 
heralds  the  incoming  from  other  northern  regions, 
generally  Ceara,  of  a host  of  workers.  Anyone  who  has 
travelled  on  the  steamers  going  up  the  river  at  the 
beginning  of  the  rubber  season  has  looked  down  upon 
the  deck  where  throngs  of  people  are  herded  together, 
their  hammocks  slung  in  tiers  one  above  the  other;  at 
times  of  drought  whole  families  come  out  from  the 
“ distritos  flagellados ,”  and  men,  women  and  children  are 
crowded  in  an  intimacy  which  would  be  more  trying 
than  it  is  were  it  not  for  the  apparently  unfailing  good- 
nature and  mutual  courtesy  of  these  northern  peasants. 
Much  of  their  simple  cooking,  washing,  and  toilet 
changes  are  perforce  unsheltered;  gentle,  easily  amused, 
they  never  seem  to  complain,  but,  playing  their  in- 


INDUSTRIES 


199 


evitable  guitars  and  singing  their  modinhas,  they  watch 
the  yellow  flood  of  the  great  river,  bordered  with  the 
line  of  distant  forest,  so  vast  that  ideas  of  size  are  lost 
in  its  sweeping  monotony.  Arrived  at  Manaos  the  col- 
lector goes  to  the  store  of  the  aviador,  gets  his  outfit  of 
tools — cups  for  collecting  latex,  big  knife  (machado), 
little  axe,  bucket,  and  metal  cone  for  smoke-regulation 
in  the  coagulating  process — as  well  as  food  and  such 
clothes  as  he  may  need,  possibly  adding  a gun,  and  when 
the  cost  of  his  lodging  has  been  added  to  the  bill,  he 
may  set  out  in  one  of  the  gaiolas  that  ascend  the  upper 
rivers,  en  route  to  the  seringal  where  he  has  arranged  to 
work.  An  average  seringal  contains  fifty  estradas;  to 
each  seringueiro  (collector),  two  estradas  are  allotted, 
tapped  on  alternate  days  and  each  estrada  (literally  road 
or  walk)  contains,  in  a good  seringal , an  average  of 
seventy  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  trees.  Before  the 
seringueiro  does  a stroke  of  work  there  has  been  a heavy 
outlay  by  the  owner  ( patrao ) of  the  estate  for  its  prepa- 
ration. Forestal  opening  is  done  by  the  matteiro,  the 
expert  forester  whose  work  is  probably  better  paid  than 
any  other  manual  labour  of  the  Amazon;  it  is  he  who 
enters  the  wild  forest,  locates  the  rubber  trees  within  a 
given  area,  and  makes  paths  from  each  seringueira 
(rubber  tree)  to  the  next  in  the  central  part  of  each 
estrada,  always  ending  by  cutting  an  encircling  road 
which  runs  all  about  the  estrada.  On  this  outer  road  the 
rubber  collector  usually  builds  his  little  hut — “more 
of  an  oven  than  a home,”  says  Eloy  de  Souza — of  palm 
thatch,  and  the  tiny  smoking  room  ( defumador ) where 
each  day’s  supply  of  latex  is  coagulated. 

The  work  of  the  matteiro  is  paid  according  to  the 
number  of  rubber  trees  found  and  prepared  for  tapping; 


200 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


he  gets  about  the  equivalent  of  one  dollar  for  each  tree; 
Woodroffe  reckons  that  in  the  cases  when  the  patrao 
of  an  estate  has  advanced  money  for  the  steamship 
fares  of  his  imported  labourers,  advanced  food  and 
equipment,  and  paid  for  preparation  of  the  seringal , 
each  man  represents  an  outlay  of  “quite  £100  by  the 
time  he  stands  up  under  the  trees  to  tap  them.”  It 
must  not  be  supposed,  therefore,  that  because  rubber 
is  wild  upon  the  Amazon  that  it  costs  nothing  to  collect 
it;  on  the  contrary  in  spite  of  the  lavish  hand  of  Nature 
expenses  in  the  wild  regions  of  South  America  are  far 
higher  than  they  are  in  the  East,  where  land  has  been 
cleared  and  each  sapling  patiently  planted  and  tended. 

The  seringueiro  has  no  easy  life.  He  gets  out  of  his 
hammock  before  dawn,  and  with  his  lantern  fixed  to 
his  head  makes  his  way  through  the  forest,  laden  with 
his  little  machadinho,  the  universally  used  and  abused 
axe  with  which  the  trees  are  gashed,  with  the  big  knife, 
the  machado  or  machete  inseparable  from  the  Central  or 
South  American,  and  perhaps  a gun  in  case  any  edible 
animal  of  the  woods  is  encountered.  As  each  tree  is 
reached  it  is  hastily  gashed,  a little  metal  cup  ( tigelinha ) 
fixed  below  each  wound  to  receive  the  milk  which  imme- 
diately runs  out;  when  he  returns  at  last  by  way  of  the 
outer  path  to  his  hut  it  is  past  six  o’clock  and  quite 
light.  If  he  has  a family  with  him,  his  senhora  has 
prepared  his  coffee,  but  if  as  is  usual  he  is  alone  he  will 
now  light  a fire,  drip  his  coffee,  prepare  a little  food,  and 
smoke  a cigarro.  Later  in  the  morning  he  must  make  a 
second  round,  if  the  milk  is  not  to  coagulate  in  the  cups; 
he  takes  his  bucket  (the  halde),  tips  the  contents  of  each 
little  cup  into  it,  carefully  inverting  these  on  sticks  at 
the  foot  of  the  tree,  to  prevent  the  clotting  of  drippings 


Rubber  on  the  Amazon. 

Hevea  brasiliensis  tree,  scarred  by  tapping. 
Smoking  the  day’s  collection  of  latex. 
Hut  of  the  Seringueiro. 


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and  the  invasion  of  insects.  When  he  returns  he  may 
have  four  or  more  litres  of  milk  which  must  now  be 
coagulated  in  the  defumador;  the  process  may  take  half 
an  hour  or  over  two  hours,  according  to  the  amount 
brought  in  and  the  quality  of  the  latex.  A fire  is  made 
with  nuts  of  one  of  the  attalea  palms,  generally  “uri- 
cury,”  which  give  off  a remarkably  acrid  smoke  with 
properties  for  rendering  the  rubber  just  what  it  should 
be  that  are  the  despair  of  chemists:  no  substitute  has 
been  found  that  equals  it.  A metal  cone  a couple  of 
feet  high  is  placed  over  the  well-started  fire,  to  bring 
the  smoke  into  a narrow  channel  at  the  top;  the  serin- 
gueiro  takes  a prepared  piece  of  wood,  dips  it  into  the 
bucket  of  milk,  or  pours  milk  over  it  with  the  cuia 
(little  bowl  made  of  a half-gourd)  and  holds  it  over  the 
smoke.  The  milk  coagulates  instantly,  turning  pale 
brown  on  the  outside;  layer  after  layer  is  added,  a 
skin  at  a time,  until  all  the  latex  in  the  bucket  is  coag- 
ulated. It  may  be  late  at  night  before  the  seringueiro 
has  finished  his  work,  for  in  the  course  of  the  day  he  has 
walked  anything  from  six  to  ten  miles,  and  every  part  of 
the  operations  has  been  performed  by  him  alone.  It  is 
fortunate  that  his  housekeeping  work  is  limited  to  the 
preparation  of  his  food:  practically  the  only  furnishing 
of  his  hut  is  his  hammock. 

To  produce  a pelle,  the  big  black  ball  which  may  be 
seen  in  Para  and  Manaos  on  the  wharves,  in  ware- 
houses, on  the  pavements,  whole  or  sliced  in  halves 
with  their  creamy  hearts  displayed,  or  floating  down 
the  tributary  rivers  on  rafts,  the  seringueiro  has  to 
work  for  about  a month.  Each  day’s  collection  of 
latex  is  coagulated  on  top  of  the  previous  rubber  until 
the  ball  is  made  to  what  the  seringueiro  thinks  is  a con- 


202 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


venient  size.  Day  after  day,  only  interrupted  by  sick- 
ness, he  labours  in  the  sweltering  forest  at  this  toil,  eat- 
ing food  of  very  limited  variety,  without  exchanging  a 
word,  perhaps,  with  another  human  being  for  weeks  at 
a time;  each  seringal  is  supposed  to  be  under  inspection, 
to  avoid  maltreatment  of  the  trees,  but  as  a rule  this 
supervision  is  a fiction.  Small  wonder  that  when  the 
collector  at  last  leaves  the  seringal , and  takes  his  rubber 
to  Manaos,  he  spends  a few  riotous  days,  limited  by 
the  amount  of  his  money  balance  remaining  after  the 
debt  has  been  paid  to  the  aviador.  The  aviador  it  is 
who  also  buys  the  pelles  and  in  the  busy  season  when 
rubber  begins  to  come  in,  these  stores  present  a curious 
sight.  Sometimes  the  seringueiro , in  good  years,  saves 
money;  he  may  buy  a seringal  or  a little  store  of  his 
own;  a few  fortunes  have  thus  been  made  from  the  col- 
lector class,  but  they  are  rather  the  exceptions  that 
prove  the  rule. 

These  conditions,  under  which  a nominally  inde- 
pendent collector  works  in  a rented  estrada  and  sells 
his  rubber  to  the  store-keeper  to  whom  he  is  in  debt — 
and  who  is  often  also  the  owner  of  the  seringal — are 
general  as  regards  the  collection  of  the  latex  of  the 
“black”  rubber  trees  of  the  upper  Amazon.  This  is 
the  origin  of  the  fina  class  of  rubber,  with  sernamby  or 
scrap  as  a kind  of  by-product,  result  of  carelessness; 
the  fina,  however,  is  usually  at  least  eighty  per  cent  of  a 
good  workman’s  product,  and  this  is  the  rubber  which, 
with  caucho,  has  made  Manaos. 

Caucho  is  rubber  produced  from  the  milk  of  castilloa 
elastica,  growing  in  profusion  along  the  banks  of  the 
Rio  Branco,  tributary  of  the  Negro,  in  North  Amazonia 
and  on  many  streams  of  Peruvian  origin;  the  industry 


INDUSTRIES 


203 


connected  with  this  tree  is  really  independent,  the 
result  of  individual  searchings  for  trees.  Parties  go  up 
these  rivers,  hunt  in  the  bordering  woods  for  the  cas- 
tilloa,  straightway  cut  it  down  and  bleed  it  for  the  last 
drop  of  latex,  and  go  on  their  way. 

Down  near  the  mouth  of  the  Amazon,  where  the 
“white”  rubber  trees  are  most  commonly  found,  it  is 
not  unusual  for  collectors  to  own  sections  of  forest  with 
their  little  homes  at  its  edge;  they,  too,  are  almost  in- 
dependent— of  everything  except  the  industrial  condi- 
tions upon  the  Amazon,  and  the  rubber  prices  fixed 
far  away  in  London  or  New  York. 

Nearly  all  South  American  States  depend  upon  ex- 
port and  import  taxes  for  their  main  revenues,  and  it 
is  a fairly  general  rule  that  native  products  leaving  the 
country  pay  heavily  for  that  privilege.  In  Brazil  all 
import  dues  are  imposed  and  collected  by  the  Federal 
Government,  and  are  similar  throughout  the  country 
without  respect  to  the  special  conditions  of  separate 
states;  the  export  taxes  are  imposed  by  the  State  Gov- 
ernments, without  restraint.  In  some  regions  the 
“pauta”  or  export  tax  is  changed  every  week  or  so  in 
conformity  with  prices  in  world  markets,  a board 
sitting  specially  for  the  purpose  of  making  these  con- 
stant adjustments.  Some  Brazilian  products  are  taxed 
to  what  may  be  called  a reasonable  extent,  but  in 
others  exports  have  been  bled  out  of  existence,  while 
still  others  are  barely  able  to  enter  world  markets, 
staggering  under  their  load.  How  many  exporting 
countries  would  put  upon  a product  facing  competition 
abroad  a tax  equal  to  one- third  of  its  value?  This  is 
the  weight  with  which  Amazonian  rubber  went  to 
market  for  many  years:  the  combined  charges  of  the 


204 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


State,  municipalities,  and  other  smaller  items  added 
up  to  over  thirty  per  cent  of  the  “official  value”  of  the 
product. 

In  response  to  appeals,  export  taxes  were  reduced 
after  the  outbreak  of  the  European  War,  and  during 
the  year  1916  State  taxes,  together  with  dues  put  on 
by  cities,  amounted  to  about  twenty  per  cent  of  the 
value  of  the  rubber — a sufficiently  heavy  burden,  but 
which  Amazonas  proposes  to  increase  again;  at  the 
same  time  the  product  of  Matto  Grosso  pays  only 
twelve  per  cent,  an  equal  amount  is  imposed  upon 
rubber  originating  in  the  Acre  Territory,  while  that 
exported  from  Bolivia,  Peru  and  Colombia,  but  finding 
its  exit  by  the  water  highways  of  the  Amazon,  pays  only 
five  per  cent.  As  a result  of  these  lesser  dues  collected 
by  sister  countries,  there  is  a certain  amount  of  smug- 
gling done:  rubber  originating  near  the  boundaries  is 
passed  across,  and  exported  as  if  coming  from  one  of 
the  three  Republics  named;  that  such  evasion  of  taxes 
is  limited  is  due  to  the  lack  of  roads  or  of  any  com- 
munication means  besides  those  of  the  rivers,  all  of 
which  are  watched  by  Government  agents.  At  the 
same  time  that  the  Amazon  imposes  this  burden  upon 
her  rubber,  the  Eastern  (Plantation)  product  pays 
nothing  at  all  when  the  market  price  is  below  18  pence 
— say  thirty-six  cents — a pound,  and  when  it  stands 
above  two  shillings  a tax  of  two  and  a half  per  cent  of 
the  value  is  paid. 

Consumption  of  the  entire  supply  of  marketed 
rubber  was,  immediately  prior  to  the  European  War, 
almost  evenly  divided  between  North  America  and 
Europe:  one  of  the  industrial  adjustments  made  after 


INDUSTRIES 


205 


hostilities  began  was  the  shifting  of  a larger  share  of 
rubber,  and  rubber  manufacturing,  to  the  United 
States,  so  that  in  1914  she  took  fifty  per  cent  of  the 
marketed  total,  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand 
tons,  and  in  1915  increased  these  purchases  to  nearly 
sixty-two  per  cent  of  the  total  marketed,  or  ninety- 
seven  thousand  tons  out  of  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty-eight  thousand. 

Distribution  of  the  world’s  crop  in  1915: — 


United  States 

...61.5. 

. . . 97,000 

Great  Britain 

...  9.6. 

. . .15,072 

Russia 

...  7.6. 

. . . 12,000 

France 

...  7.2. 

. . .11,500 

Italy 

...  4-8. 

...  7,500 

Germany,  Austria.  . . . 

...  3-8. 

. . . 6,000 

Canada 

...  2.5. 

. . . 4,000 

Japan  and  Australia  . . 

. . . 1.6. 

. . . 2,500 

Scandinavia 

...  1.4. 

. . . 2,252 

The  course  of  the  next  few  years  may  see  Brazil  her- 
self on  the  lists  as  a rubber-consuming  country.  For 
fifty  years  she  has  exported  rubber,  crude,  and  such 
manufactures  of  rubber  as  she  has  used  have  been  im- 
ported from  the  United  States  or  Europe;  she  imported 
in  1915  about  six  hundred  and  eighty-three  tons  of 
rubber  manufactures,  chiefly  tyres,  worth  a million 
dollars,  w'hich  was  less  than  the  imports  of  1913,  and 
which  might  show  greater  diminution  if  the  unfortu- 
nately conceived  law  intended  to  protect  “fine  hard 
Para,”  but  which  resulted  in  paralyzing  rubber  im- 
ports, were  sustained.  This  alteration  in  the  tariff, 
operating  early  in  1915,  changed  the  old  import  tax  of 
five  per  cent  ad  valorem  to  a scale  with  violent  dif- 


206 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


ferences;  rubber  manufactures  made  with  the  Brazilian 
product  were  charged  one  hundred  reis  a kilo  (a  frac- 
tion over  two  cents  U.  S.)  while  articles  made  with 
foreign  rubber  were  taxed  ten  milreis  (say  two  dollars 
and  sixty  cents)  a kilo. 

An  excellent  idea,  warmly  applauded;  but  when  the 
time  came  to  apply  the  law  it  was  found  impossible  to 
discover  the  real  origin  of  the  rubber,  and  in  order  to 
avoid  any  chance  of  letting  in  foreign  material  prac- 
tically scot  free  the  official  valuers  charged  all  entering 
articles  at  the  high  rate. 

Thus  a consignment  of  two  hundred  pneumatic  tyres 
which  under  the  old  law  would  have  paid  about  2:200 
milreis  in  duties  for  entry  were  under  the  new  tariff 
charged  22:000 — or  let  us  say  about  $5,500  instead 
of  the  former  $550,  for  import  taxes  alone.  Need- 
less to  say,  importing  houses  left  rubber  goods  in  the 
customs-houses  while  they  appealed  to  the  authorities 
for  relief  from  this  too  paternal  measure.  Some  of  the 
Amazonian  rubber  merchants  have  defended  the  idea, 
which  is  good  enough  in  theory,  but  in  practice  it 
seems  to  have  been  as  little  useful  as  that  extraordinary 
commission  charged  with  the  Defesa  da  Borracha,  which 
in  the  years  1912-14  spent  about  twenty-eight 
thousand  contos  of  reis  (over  $7,000,000)  in  salaries, 
investigations,  recommendations,  experiments  and 
printed  matter,  and  has  today  not  an  iota  of  im- 
provement of  Amazonian  conditions  to  show  for  the 
money. 

Brazil  has  a few  rubber  factories  of  her  own,  generally 
small,  but  doing  a satisfactory  and  increasing  business; 
the  Brazilian  Government  has  also  concluded  an  ar- 
rangement with  the  Goodyear  Tire  Company  for  the 


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207 


erection  of  a factory  which  should  greatly  increase  na- 
tional rubber  manufactures.  The  first  modern  rubber 
factory  in  Brazil  was  established  in  Sao  Paulo  State, 
in  1913,  by  Theodore  Putz  and  Company,  where 
solid  tyres,  tubes,  stamps,  valves,  and  other  articles 
are  made;  it  has  a capital  of  two  hundred  contos  and 
an  annual  turnover  of  three  hundred  contos,  paying 
twenty-five  contos  a month  for  labour.  Five  hundred 
kilos  of  Para,  and  one  thousand  kilos  of  mangabeira 
rubber  are  used  monthly.  Another  firm  of  recent  origin 
is  that  of  Berrogain  & Cia.  in  Rio,  turning  out  a variety 
of  manufactures  and  prospering. 

The  future  of  rubber  production  is  a question  fre- 
quently discussed.  It  is  not  immediately  probable  that 
the  Brazilian  output  will  greatly  increase  from  its 
average  of  twenty  to  thirty  thousand  tons,  not  only 
because  more  labour  is  not  as  yet  available,  but  also 
because  the  untapped  resources  away  from  the  easily 
reached  river  banks  can  scarcely  be  reached  without 
large  outlays  on  roads,  drainage,  and  other  expenses 
connected  with  opening-up,  which  are  not  more  than 
planned  for  the  time  being.  Plantation  rubber  has  not 
yet  reached  its  expected  maximum,  but  no  very  great 
areas  have  been  added  since  1911,  and  it  is  reckoned 
that  with  an  average  yield  of  four  hundred  pounds  an 
acre  the  world’s  output  will  in  a few  years  place  from 
three  hundred  thousand  to  three  hundred  and  thirty 
thousand  tons  of  dry  rubber  on  the  markets.  Demand 
by  the  year  1930,  if  it  kept  up  at  the  same  ratio  as  the 
last  five  or  six  years,  would  require  a great  deal  more 
than  this,  no  less  than  three  hundred  and  seventy-three 
thousand  tons  of  rubber.  This  will  not  occur  unless 
automobile  sales  in  the  United  States  keep  up  also  at 


208 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


the  same  rate  (tyres  for  this  industry  already  take  over 
ioo  thousand  tons  of  rubber)  but  even  with  a diminu- 
tion in  the  increase  there  appear  to  be  good  prospects 
ahead  for  the  rubber  industry:  Germany,  for  instance, 
will  be  demanding  crude  rubber  in  great  quantities  when 
the  European  War  comes  to  an  end,  for  in  spite  of  the 
ingenuity  of  German  chemists  it  is  plain  that  synthetic 
rubber  is  not  a success.  If  it  were  anything  like  a sub- 
stitute for  the  real  thing  the  Central  Powers  would  not 
have  made  such  constant  efforts  to  obtain  even  small 
quantities  of  the  precious  gum  through  the  blockade  of 
the  Allies.  The  war  has  definitely  disposed  of  that 
spectre.  Synthetic  rubber  requiring  a base  of  a special 
turpentine  is  said  to  be  produced  at  a cost  four  times 
that  of  the  gum  of  the  hevea,  and  that  figure  alone  would 
dispose  of  it  as  a commercial  possibility,  apart  from  the 
limitation  of  turpentine  supplies,  the  need  for  mixing 
the  solution  with  real  rubber,  and  the  practical  demon- 
stration of  its  unsatisfactory  quality. 

PACKING-HOUSES,  MEAT  EXPORT,  AND  CATTLE  RAISING 

The  meat  business  is  not  a new  one  in  Brazil,  for  her 
cattle  raising  states  have  had  a surplus  of  beef  animals 
ever  since  the  first  donatarios  sailed  out  to  take  posses- 
sion of  their  strips  of  coast,  and  brought  seeds,  saplings, 
ducks  and  chickens,  goats,  horses  and  cattle  along  with 
them:  the  cattle  throve,  soon  ran  wild  in  the  interior, 
and  becoming  modified  by  natural  selection  developed 
national  types  which  are  today  quite  distinctive  al- 
though their  European  origin  is  recognizable.  The  first 
cattle  were  shipped  to  Brazil  to  the  Capitania  of  S. 
Vicente  in  1534  by  Dona  Anna  Pimentel,  consort  of  the 


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209 


first  captain,  and  manager  of  the  interests  of  the  colony 
during  his  absence  in  India. 

Brazil  has  thirty  million  head  of  cattle.  That  is  to 
say,  two  or  three  million  more  than  the  Argentine 
possesses.  But  her  herds  are  only  worth  a fraction  of 
the  Argentine  value  because  the  stock  is  poor,  some  of  it 
thin  and  scrubby,  with  but  one  steadily  developed  type 
of  first-class  quality.  The  scientific  breeders  of  Brazil — 
and  there  is  quite  a list  of  them — have  lacked  a reason 
for  developing  their  work  until  recently.  In  the  ab- 
sence of  the  packing-house  there  was  no  demand  for 
beef  beyond  that  of  the  matadouros  (town  slaughter- 
houses) and  the  xarque  factories.  For  the  xarque  makers 
any  class  of  animal  would  serve:  a Hereford  of  pure 
blood  would  bring  no  more  than  a zebu  unless  he  hap- 
pened to  weigh  more. 

Xarque  making  is  the  ancient  meat-drying  industry, 
invented  by  who  knows  what  hunter  in  bygone  ages;  it 
is  the  biltong  of  Africa,  the  tasajo  of  the  Argentine,  the 
jerked  beef  of  the  North.  Well  salted  and  dried,  it  is 
good  food  enough,  and  France  did  not  disdain  to  buy 
it  from  Brazil  for  the  use  of  her  troops  in  1915-18.  The 
southerly  states  of  Brazil  are  the  great  supporters  of 
cattle  stocks,  and  there  are  the  extensive  beef-drying 
factories;  Rio  Grande  slaughters  over  half  a million 
head  of  cattle  for  this  purpose  every  year,  the  number 
rising  to  its  maximum  in  1912  with  nine  hundred  thou- 
sand head,  and  chiefly  ships  the  xarque  produced  to 
other  Brazilian  regions;  it  is  the  came  secca  of  that  be- 
loved Brazilian  dish,  the  feijoada , eaten  all  over  the 
Union.  The  coastal  and  northern  regions  of  Brazil, 
comparatively  poor  cattle  regions,  are  so  much  de- 
pendent upon  dried  beef  imports  that  the  xarque  indus- 


210 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


try  should  have  a ready  market  in  the  future  as  in  the 
past:  but  since  1914  a rival  has  risen  up  seriously 
threatening  the  old  industry  in  prestige. 

Almost  simultaneously  two  packing-houses,  both  in 
S.  Paulo  State,  began  demanding  cold  storage  space  in 
vessels  calling  at  Santos,  and  refrigerator  cars  on  rail- 
ways leading  to  the  port.  Brazil,  to  the  astonishment  of 
the  markets,  was  offering  chilled  and  frozen  beef.  At 
any  other  time  she  might  have  received  a welcome  less 
enthusiastic,  but  her  offer  came  at  a time  when  Europe 
needed  every  pound  of  meat  for  army  use;  the  Brazilian 
product  was  tested  by  Smithfield  standards,  found 
good,  and  today  has  its  place  in  overseas  meat  markets. 
It  is  a modest  place,  but  today  beef  is  taking  its  stand 
among  the  “principaes  artigos  da  exportagao” — 
hides  have  long  stood  in  the  list  of  thirteen  favoured 
names — although  the  end  of  the  war  diminished  over- 
seas demands. 

During  1915  shipments  were  made  in  increasing 
amounts  month  by  month,  the  total  for  the  year  reach- 
ing about  8,514  tons,  with  a value  of  6,122  contos. 
In  1916  shipments  rose  to  nearly  34,000  tons;  in  1917 
to  over  66,000;  but  sales  decreased  after  the  close  of  the 
war,  when  contracts  for  supplying  troops  in  the  field 
ceased,  and  markets  closed  in  the  slump  of  1921. 

The  first  frigorifico  of  Brazil  was  built  by  Paulista 
enterprise  with  Paulista  capital,  in  the  far  north-west 
of  Sao  Paulo  where  the  best  pastures  extend.  The 
Companhia  Frigorifica  e Pastoril  built  its  plant  near  the 
terminus  of  the  Paulista  Railway,  at  Barretos,  and  is 
headed  by  Dr.  Antonio  da  Silva  Prado,  an  energetic 
builder-up  of  his  State  and  a man  with  many  honours 
and  interests.  Opened  in  1913,  the  frigorifico  first 


INDUSTRIES 


21 1 


supplied  chilled  meat  to  the  city  of  S.  Paulo;  export  was 
not  seriously  considered  until  the  war  in  Europe  began 
with  its  demands  upon  world  food  supplies.  The  first 
Brazilian  shipment  of  exported  meat  was  sent  to  Eng- 
land in  November,  1914,  an  experimental  ton  and  a 
half.  During  the  ensuing  year  that  country  took  four 
thousand,  three  hundred  and  sixty  tons,  Italy  over  two 
thousand  tons,  and  the  United  States  nearly  the  same 
quantity. 

The  figures  displayed  a steady  rise  all  through  1915, 
January’s  ten  tons  being  quickly  outclassed  by  April’s 
two  hundred  and  ten  and  June’s  over  five  hundred  and 
seventy  tons;  by  November  Brazil  was  shipping  two 
thousand  tons  a month.  The  standard  was  more  than 
maintained  as  time  went  on  cattle  raisers  improving 
animals  for  sale  to  meet  demands,  and  proving  the 
fattening  quality  of  Brazilian  pastures.  But  until  after 
the  close  of  1918  little  blood  stock  could  be  imported, 
and  in  1922  an  expert  calculation  gave  12%  as  the  pro- 
portion of  fat  cattle  in  Brazil. 

The  output  of  Barretos  was  speedily  rivalled.  In 
May,  1915,  another  packing-house  started  operations, 
at  Osasco  on  the  outskirts  of  S.  Paulo  city.  It  is  the 
property  of  the  Continental  Products  Company,  capital 
and  personnel  originating  in  the  Sulzberger  house  at  Chi- 
cago, and  it  is  independent  of,  but  has  friendly  relations 
with,  the  Farquhar  group  of  interests,  which  include  large 
railway  control  and  a thriving  land  and  cattle  company. 

The  Osasco  plant  is,  like  Barretos,  an  excellent  speci- 
men of  its  class,  operating  with  fine  up-to-date  ma- 
chinery and  all  modern  packing-house  devices;  on  the 
edge  of  S.  Paulo  city,  separated  from  the  railway  only  by 


212 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


a strip  of  open  grassy  country,  this  establishment  has 
the  advantage  of  a short  haul  for  its  meat.  The  Sao 
Paulo  Railway  has  to  carry  the  product  but  fifty  miles 
to  Santos  port.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Barretos  plant’s 
position  has  the  advantages  of  being  in  the  heart  of  the 
best  cattle  country,  and  of  getting  both  animals  and 
labour  at  low  prices;  the  journey  from  Barretos  to  S. 
Paulo,  by  the  Paulista  line,  takes  about  fourteen  hours. 
Brazilian  employees  are  used  at  both  packing-houses, 
the  industry  occupying  about  a thousand  workmen. 
During  1916  a third  jrigorifico  was  opened,  on  the  docks 
of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  but  this  chiefly  performs  cold-storage 
functions,  and  before  the  close  of  1919  ten  packing- 
houses were  in  operation  or  building.  General  world  de- 
pression in  1921  was  responsible  for  the  closure  of  most 
of  these  establishments  for  more  than  local  demands. 
Few  complaints  have  been  registered  in  regard  to 
quality  so  far;  the  Brazilian  beef  is  on  the  whole  smaller 
than  that  to  which  the  meat  markets  are  accustomed, 
and  it  was  found  that  the  quarters  did  not  fill  the  space 
allowed  for  similar  Argentine  and  Uruguayan  meat 
when  shipping  first  began.  Dr.  Prado  says  that  the 
average  weight  of  beeves  slaughtered  for  export  during 
the  first  year  of  operation  at  Barretos  was  only  two 
hundred  and  eighty  kilos.  But  this  small,  fat-less  meat 
has  a superior  flavour — as  anyone  who  travels  in  South 
America  knows  well. 

It  is  generally  reckoned  that  ten  per  cent  of  a cattle 
herd  is  fit  for  the  slaughterhouse:  but  Brazil  cannot 
offer  three  million  of  her  existing  stock  to  the  yards. 
She  has  too  many  varieties,  probably  too  much  of  the 
humped  breed  derived  from  Indian  ancestry,  although 
it  has  warm  defenders,  and  there  is  a conspicuous  lack 


The  Cattle  Industry. 

The  two  frigorificos  (packing-houses)  in  opera- 
tion, at  Barretos,  top;  at  Osasco,  below. 
Also  humped  “ zebu  ” cattle  of  Indian  de- 
scent. and,  lower,  a calf  of  native  Caracu 
stock. 


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213 


of  young  fat  cattle.  As  an  example  of  the  speed  with 
which  poor  stock  may  be  improved  by  good,  unified 
methods,  there  is  Brazil’s  neighbour  Argentina,  a coun- 
try which  thirty-five  years  ago  had  less  than  nine  mil- 
lion head  of  cattle,  and  these  of  a breed  inferior  to  the 
Brazilian  average  today.  Setting  about  her  task 
methodically,  Argentina  created  a complete  transforma- 
tion in  the  character  of  her  herds,  and  while  exporting 
great  quantities  of  meat  at  the  same  time  increased  her 
stock  so  largely  that  by  the  year  1910  she  had  thirty 
million  head.  Sums  spent  on  breeding  stock  were  enor- 
mous during  this  period:  in  1906,  the  banner  year  of 
importation,  Argentina  purchased  (almost  exclusively 
from  Great  Britain)  2,450  pure-bred  cattle,  7,500 
thoroughbred  sheep,  and  one  thousand  blood  horses. 
As  a result  she  has  animals  today  which  take  prizes 
side  by  side  with  pure  Herefords  and  Durhams;  the 
average  abattoir  price  for  steers  is  about  two  hundred 
Argentine  pesos,  or  say  eighty  American  dollars;  she 
is  able  to  record  the  sale  of  thousands  of  splendid  crea~ 
tures,  amongst  them  a champion  bull  bred  on  her  pas- 
tures which  brought  the  price  of  thirty-two  thousand 
dollars  in  United  States  currency.  Today  Argentina 
has  more  herds  of  thoroughly  pure  stock  cattle  than 
any  other  country  in  the  world;  estancias  full  of  animals 
of  fine  blood,  so  much  alike  that  to  see  them  in  endless 
lines,  with  white  star  on  breast  and  head,  is  like  looking 
at  a concrete  arithmetical  calculation,  are  handed 
down  as  inheritances.  Yet  when  the  Argentine  began 
her  work  she  had  no  such  advantages  of  modern  inven- 
tion as  lie  to  the  hand  of  Brazil;  cold  storage  was  not 
commercially  developed,  packing-houses  were  imma- 
ture. She  had  to  face  the  competition  of  the  United 


214 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


States,  and  world  markets  were  not  educated  to  the 
reception  of  South  American  meat.  Now  cold  storage 
is  an  art,  steamers  are  fitted  with  refrigerator  space 
as  a matter  of  course,  South  American  meat  is  welcome 
on  world  markets,  and  the  United  States  is  no  longer 
taken  into  consideration  as  a rival  meat  exporter. 

In  1901  the  United  States  exported  352,000,000 
pounds  of  beef;  in  1910,  76,000,000;  in  1914,  only  a 
little  more  than  6,000,000  pounds.  Argentina  had 
caught  up  with  her  North  American  sister  in  1905, 
passed  and  out-distanced  her  until  she  was  able  last 
year  to  say  that  her  only  serious  competitor  was  Aus- 
tralasia. It  is  true  that  the  European  War  has  caused  a 
revival  of  meat  export  from  the  United  States,  but  home 
demands  are  today  so  acute  that  no  more  than  a tempo- 
rary reaping  of  high  prices  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  move- 
ment. Argentina  may  look  for  a more  formidable,  be- 
cause a younger,  rival,  nearer  to  her  northern  border. 

The  qualifications  of  Brazil  as  a future  land  of  fine 
cattle  are  three  in  the  main:  first,  her  possession  of  an 
existing  rebanho  of  30,000,000  head;  next  her  natural 
pastures  and  good  climate  which  permit  stock  to  re- 
main in  the  open  during  the  winter;  third,  tremendous 
expanses  of  suitable  lands  at  moderate  prices.  Argen- 
tina has  no  natural  pastures;  she  sows  alfalfa,  needs  five 
acres  of  it  to  fatten  one  animal  for  six  months  and 
is  thus  at  an  expense  of  $7. 50  for  this  purpose 
against  Brazil’s  outlay  of  rather  less  than  three  and 
one-half  dollars,  counting  the  value  of  the  five  acres 
of  alfalfa  land  at  three  hundred  dollars,  the  cost  of 
twelve  acres  of  Brazilian  capim  gordura  at  one  hundred 
and  thirty-three  dollars,  and  interest  on  the  two  in- 
vestments at  five  per  cent.  In  regard  to  available 


INDUSTRIES 


2IS 

territory  there  is  no  comparison;  Brazil’s  one  state  of 
Matto  Grosso  could  swallow  the  whole  cattle-raising 
country  of  the  Argentine,  without  taking  into  con- 
sideration Goyaz,  Minas  Geraes,  S.  Paulo,  Parana  or 
Rio  Grande  do  Sul. 

Space  and  climate,  however,  are  not  all  that  goes  to 
make  a cattle  country  fattening  fine  stock,  and  it  need 
scarcely  be  said  that  much  must  be  done  before  the 
cattle  lands  of  Brazil  can  seriously  compete  with  those 
of  the  Argentine:  the  time  is  not  yet  ripe  for  the  wild 
pastures  of  Goyaz  and  Matto  Grosso  to  fatten  cattle 
in  the  same  proportion  as  Rio  Grande  State.  This 
state,  with  an  area  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-seven 
thousand  square  kilometers  feeds  about  nine  million 
head  of  cattle,  a remarkably  good  showing  in  compari- 
son with  the  premier  cattle  province  of  Argentina, 
Buenos  Aires,  which,  with  a superficial  area  of  not 
much  more  than  305,000  square  kilometers,  feeds  seven 
and  a half  million  head. 

Pastures  are  not — except  by  careful  fazendeiros — 
planted  in  Brazil  because  there  happens  to  be  a gift  of 
nature  in  the  way  of  natural  grasses,  the  capins  of  the 
sertao.  Some  of  these  are  good,  and  some  would  feed 
nothing  but  a goat.  Brazilian  stock-raisers  who  com- 
bine earnestness  with  capital  plant  their  own  best 
grasses  and  appear  to  get  satisfactory  results,  while 
I have  also  seen  some  interesting  experiments  made 
with  “Soudan”  or  other  of  the  wonderful  varieties  of 
grasses  with  which  Africa  is  endowed.  For  lack  of 
interior  pastures  the  cattle  of  Brazil  are  periodically 
brought  on  foot  for  distances  which  may  vary  from  a 
hundred  to  six  hundred  miles;  many  die  by  the  way, 
and  the  unfortunate  beasts  are  mere  skin  and  bone 


2l6 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


when  they  arrive  in  the  good  grass  country.  On  the 
Sao  Paulo  side  of  the  Parana  river  are  some  of  the  finest 
natural  pastures  of  Brazil,  but  in  many  parts  of  the 
Sao  Paulo  uplands,  interior  Rio,  Parana,  Santa  Cath- 
arina,  and  Rio  Grande,  admirable  cattle  lands  are 
to  be  seen.  Rio  Grande,  especially  towards  the  Uru- 
guay boundary,  is  one  of  the  most  delightful  grazing 
regions  imaginable;  Minas,  too,  shows  some  fine  lush 
green  grass  lands,  with  the  special  advantage  that 
cattle  need  never  be  put  under  shelter  in  the  mild 
winter  which  visits  this  region.  The  good  grass  lands 
of  Minas  and  interior  Sao  Paulo  are  frequently  at  an 
elevation  of  1,400  feet,  on  the  sloping  plateau  which  is 
densely  wooded  near  its  dips  to  the  rivers,  and  which 
is  on  the  wide  uplands  covered  with  light  matto  alter- 
nating with  sturdy  native  grass.  It  is  not  unlike  the 
high  veldt  of  the  Western  Transvaal  in  appearance, 
with  the  same  exhilarating  freshness,  light  and  space, 
and  the  same  miracle  of  nature  performed  immediately 
after  the  rains,  when  every  inch  of  ground  is  covered 
with  little  dancing  flowers  and  every  bush  is  trans- 
formed into  a nosegay. 

Brazil  possesses  half  a dozen  technical  breeding 
“posts”  maintained  by  State  or  Federal  Governments, 
but  their  number  is  insufficient  to  attack  the  work 
needed,  and  needed  quickly;  private  enterprise  must 
and  does  supplement  government  labours,  but  there  is 
room  in  Brazil  for  scores  of  expert  cattlemen  with 
knowledge  of  semi-tropical  conditions.  Three-fourths 
of  the  State  of  Parana,  all  Santa  Catharina  and  all  Rio 
Grande  do  Sul  are  below  the  Tropic  of  Capricorn,  but 
although  the  great  sertbes  of  Brazil  are  inside  the 


INDUSTRIES 


217 


tropical  belt,  the  effect  of  this  latitude  is  partly  nullified 
by  the  height  of  the  plateau  to  which  the  largest  area  of 
the  country  attains. 

One  of  the  best  breeding  stations  in  Brazil  is  situated 
at  the  good,  modern,  actively-managed  School  of 
Agriculture  at  Piracicaba,  in  S.  Paulo  State,  reached 
by  the  Sorocabana  line;  good  imported  bulls  are  sta- 
tioned here,  as  well  as  some  fine  specimens  of  types 
developed  in  Brazil,  notably  the  Caracu,  a well-formed 
animal  with  a pale  buff  hide  that  is  well  fitted  to  form 
the  base  of  standardized  herds.  The  Caracu  already 
has  its  official  herd-book.  Some  attempts  made  to 
introduce  pure  blood  foreign  animals  have  ended  in 
the  death  of  the  importations,  perhaps  chiefly  because 
their  accustomed  food  was  lacking;  for  this  reason  the 
opinion  of  many  stock-raisers  in  Brazil  is  against  ef- 
forts to  create  pure  herds  of,  say,  Herefords,  as  Argen- 
tina has  done,  preferring  the  selection  of  a sound  na- 
tional type,  acclimated,  hardy,  which  can  be  improved 
by  careful  breeding.  Controversy  rages  about  this 
question  in  Brazil,  and  without  trying  to  enter  into  it 
I will  quote  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Cincinato  Braga,  one  of 
Brazil’s  authorities  on  the  subject  of  cattle,  who  says 
that  at  least  six  thousand  pure-race  bulls  should  be 
imported  annually  to  improve  the  existing  stock,  while 
as  a matter  of  fact  only  a few  hundred  enter  yearly, 
and  these  chiefly  as  a result  of  private  enterprise.  The 
vexed  question  as  to  whether  the  introduction  of 
Indian  cattle,  with  its  resultant  inheritance  of  a hump 
in  the  zebu  type  (the  hump  has  the  disadvantage  of  not 
“packing,”  say  some  of  the  buyers  for  frigorificos),  is 
good  or  bad  may  be  safely  left  to  those  ardent  cattle- 
breeders  Drs.  Pereira  Barretto,  Eduardo  Cotrim,  Assis 


2l8 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


Brasil,  Fernand  Ruffier,  and  many  others;  it  is  un- 
doubted that  in  the  Triangle  of  Minas  Geraes,  with 
its  centre  Uberaba,  fortunes  have  been  made  from 
prolific  Indian  cattle,  but  public  opinion  remains  per- 
plexed. Writing  from  Minas  in  early  1916,  J.  Nogueira 
Itagyba  told  the  tale  of  his  experiences  as  a cattle- 
breeder — how  he  imported  a bull  from  Holland,  bought 
Caracu  cows,  obtained  a young  herd,  and  then  when 
droughts  came  in  1913-14,  lost  “thirty  or  more  head, 
under  a deluge  of  ticks,  tumours,  insects  of  all 
kinds.  . . .”  He  then  bought  a Nellore  (Indian)  bull, 
obtained  a breed  that  was  “a  revelation”  and  came 
to  this  conclusion:  “In  Parana  and  Rio  Grande,  where 
the  climate  is  cold  and  there  are  fine  pastures,  a stock 
breeder  with  capital  can  raise  the  Devon,  Hereford, 
Flemish,  Durham,  Jersey,  etc.;  he  will  have  appropriate 
forage,  and  can  use  dips  and  calf-foods  . . . but  in 
wild  rural  regions  only  strong,  acclimated  races  resist- 
ing climate  and  insect  plagues  can  prosper.” 

Until  the  development  of  the  meat  industry  for  ex- 
port Brazil  sold  nothing  abroad  as  the  product  of  her 
vast  herds  except  hides,  just  as  in  the  early  days  of 
Texas  when  only  the  skins  of  her  cattle  were  worth  any- 
thing. Today  the  cow-hide  leather  industry  of  North 
America  in  particular  is  largely  dependent  upon  South 
American  production,  the  three  republics  of  Brazil, 
Argentina  and  Uruguay  together  furnishing  fifty-five 
per  cent  of  all  the  hides  sold  in  world  markets.  Now 
and  again  the  export  of  hides  leaps  for  reasons  that  do 
not  mean  good  business,  as  when  Ceara  in  1914-15 
shipped  out,  in  addition  to  her  normal  sales,  the  hides  of 
animals  that  died  of  the  terrible  drought  to  the  number 
of  eight  hundred  thousand  head;  looking  north  to 


INDUSTRIES 


219 


Mexico  we  find  another  big  leap  of  hides  exports  after 
revolution  invaded  the  cattle  states,  owners  slaughter- 
ing their  stock  to  avert  theft  by  bandits. 

Rise  in  sales  by  the  Argentine  and  her  neighbours 
since  the  European  War  has,  however,  been  largely  on 
account  of  increased  slaughter  in  response  to  calls  from 
the  meat  market:  in  two  years  Argentina  has  doubled 
her  export  of  hides,  Uruguay  has  multiplied  her  con- 
tribution by  five,  while  Brazil  between  June,  1915  and 
March,  1916  shipped  out  thirty-seven  million  pounds  of 
hides  as  against  two  and  a half  million  pounds  in  a 
corresponding  period  two  years  previously. 

The  total  value  of  Brazilian  hides  exported  in  1915 
was  #13,260,000  U.  S.  currency;  the  amount  was  thirty- 
seven  thousand  metric  tons.  Of  this  nearly  twenty 
thousand  tons  went  to  the  United  States,  Great  Britain 
taking  6,000  tons,  France  less  than  3,000,  and  Uru- 
guay 3,400  in  round  numbers. 

War  orders  account  for  the  marked  stimulation  of 
the  leather  business  which  is  dependent  to  a considera- 
ble degree  upon  supplies  of  cattle-hides,  the  United 
States  alone  increasing  her  exports  of  leather  from 
thirty-seven  million  dollars’  worth  in  1914  to  eighty 
million  dollars’  worth  in  the  fiscal  year  June  1915-16. 

COTTON  GROWING  AND  WEAVING 

Cotton  is  native  to  Brazil,  as  to  other  regions  of 
northern  South  America,  Central  America  and  Mexico, 
the  south  of  the  United  States,  and  the  West  Indian 
islands.  Wild,  or  carelessly  cultivated  Brazilian  cot- 
tons are  despite  neglect  of  such  excellent  quality  that 
George  Watt,  in  Wild  and  Cultivated  Cotton  of  the 


220 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


World  says  that  when  they  are  properly  selected  and 
standardized  they  will  “make  Brazil  as  famous  as 
Egypt  in  the  production  of  excellent  fibres.”  North 
American  cotton  buyers,  visiting  Brazil  early  in  1916 
were  astonished  to  find  cotton  of  long  silky  fibre  pro- 
duced here,  and  made  arrangements  for  shipping  quan- 
tities of  the  Serido  variety  to  the  United  States;  Eng- 
land has  for  a very  long  time  been  a purchaser  of  the 
same  fine  qualities  of  raw  cotton,  for  mixing,  as  Egyp- 
tian cotton  is  mixed,  with  the  short-fibre  product  of  the 
United  States. 

Cotton  of  one  kind  and  another  is  grown  all  over 
Brazil.  There  seems  to  be  no  region  which  refuses  to 
mother  it.  But  the  best  lands,  yielding  most  prolif- 
ically  and  with  large  areas  suitable  for  cultivation  on  a 
great  scale  are  in  the  centre,  on  the  north-east  prom- 
ontory, and  all  along  the  coast  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Amazon.  Comparatively  very  small  fragments  of  this 
belt  are  under  cotton  culture,  although  wild  cotton  and 
patches  of  cultivation  of  more  or  less  merit  are  widely 
scattered;  Todd,  in  his  World's  Cotton  Crop  says  that 
Brazil  “might  easily  grow  twenty  million  bales,  but 
her  actual  crop  does  not  yet  reach  half  a million  bales.” 
Now,  with  the  encouraging  measures  taken  by  the 
Brazilian  Government  as  well  as  the  enterprise  of  indi- 
vidual firms  and  planters,  and  the  new  realization  of  the 
opportunity  waiting  for  the  farmerwith  small  capital  but 
large  technical  skill,  experience  and  good  sense,  cotton 
culture  should  open  up  great  spaces  of  land  suitable 
for  this  well-rewarding  form  of  agriculture.  Brazilian 
cottons  or  their  Peruvian  and  West  Indian  kin  have  en- 
dowed the  world  with  fine  varieties;  it  remains  for  their 
standardization  to  benefit  the  land  of  their  origin. 


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221 


Cotton  was  used  by  the  Aztecs  for  making  elaborate 
clothes,  richly  dyed  and  embroidered,  long  before  the 
Spanish  Conquest  in  1520.  Farther  south,  the  carvings 
of  the  Maya  show  that  that  race  was  using  textiles 
hundreds  of  years  previously — as  early  as  the  beginning 
of  the  Christian  Era,  if  the  dates  assigned  to  the  Copan 
and  Quirigua  temples  are  correct.  In  Brazil,  where  the 
inhabitants  were  much  less  socially  and  industrially 
developed,  small  domestic  use  was  made  of  the  fibre, 
but  it  had  its  name,  amaniu. 

Cotton  ( Gossypium ) belongs  to  the  natural  order  of 
the  malvaceas,  claims  more  kin  in  the  New  than  in  the 
Old  World,  and  its  parents  are  genuine  tropical  dwellers; 
there  seems  to  be  little  doubt  that  the  first  of  the  fine, 
long  staple  cottons  introduced  into  North  America  were 
perennials,  and  that  they  became  annuals  only  because 
they  were  unable  to  survive  the  winter  cold.  Names  of 
cottons  grown  in  Brazil  leave  the  searcher  after  details 
rather  hazy  on  account  of  the  many  local  appellations 
given  them,  but  the  scientist  has  classified  them  by  the 
characteristics  of  their  seeds,  dividing  them  into  eleven 
kinds.  The  first,  Gossypium  herbaceum , is  not  a tropical 
native,  was  brought  in  from  Asia  both  here  and  to  the 
United  States,  is  not  common  or  successful,  and  so  may 
be  dismissed. 

G.  mustelinum  again  “is  only  interesting  for  botanical 
reasons,”  but  is  found  wild  in  the  hilly  interior  of  Brazil; 
G.  punctatum  is  said  to  be  identical  with  the  wild  cotton 
of  the  United  States;  G.  hirsutum  is  a true  native  of 
South  America  and  the  West  Indies,  and  is  the  lineal 
parent  of  the  “Uplands”  cottons  of  North  America. 
G.  mexicanum  is,  together  with  hirsutum , which  it 
resembles,  grown  all  over  the  coastal  cotton  country  of 


222 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


Brazil;  it  is  a small  plant  with  a prolific  yield.  The 
writer  has  seen  in  the  vicinity  of  Campos,  State  of  Rio, 
tiny  plants  of  this  variety  not  more  than  eighteen  or 
twenty  inches  high,  bearing  forty  and  more  bolls  and 
forms.  It  is  true  that  the  district  had  suffered  from 
lack  of  rain  and  thus  the  tendency  to  run  to  growth 
rather  than  production,  the  agricultural  curse  of  the 
tropics,  had  been  checked.  The  field  yielded  over  a bale 
to  the  acre. 

G.  peruvianum  is  a highly  interesting,  hardy,  prolific 
variety,  relative  of  the  best  native  cottons  of  Brazil. 
Professor  Edward  Green  says  that  he  considers  it  one 
of  the  two  most  valuable  in  the  country.  It  is  a peren- 
nial, grows  best  in  the  humid  North,  often  reaches  a 
height  of  four  metres,  and  yields  a crop  for  at  least  three 
years.1  Maranhao  has  produced  it  for  centuries,  getting 
a reputation  for  long  fine  fibres  on  its  account;  the 
percentage  of  fibre  is  over  thirty-eight  per  cent  of  the 
total  weight  of  the  boll,  a very  high  average,  and  it  is 
undoubtedly  well  adapted  to  the  river  valleys  of  North 
Brazil.  It  is  said  to  be  identified  with  the  carefully 
cultivated,  irrigated  cotton  of  the  Incas. 

Cultivated  forms  of  this  excellent  cotton  are  the 
famous  Moco,  grown  so  successfully  in  Ceara,  Parahyba, 
and  other  northerly  states,  the  Serido,  and  the  Sede  de 
Ceara , local  names  of  which  Brazil  is  proud. 

G.  microcarpum  appears  to  have  a relationship  with 
the  peruvianum,  and  seems  also  to  be  derived  from  the 
other  side  of  the  Andes;  it  is  credited  with  producing  a 
pound  of  clean  cotton  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  bolls. 

1 Professor  Green  says  that  he  found  one  of  these  tree  cottons  in  Rio 
Grande  do  Norte,  of  the  Moco  variety,  sixteen  years  old  and  still  yielding 
beautiful  cotton. 


INDUSTRIES 


223 


This  is  the  last  on  the  list  of  cotton  with  “fuzz”  on  the 
seeds;  the  remaining  four  varieties  have  clean,  free 
seeds.  Of  these  by  far  the  most  important  is  the  fine 
G.  vitifolium.  From  this  stock  most  of  the  cottons  de- 
scribed as  “Sea  Island”  are  derived,  as  well  as  the  best 
of  the  Egyptian  varieties,  and  in  a genuine  wild  state  in 
Brazil  it  still  produces  a beautiful  long  silky  fibre. 
When  grandchildren  of  its  stock  have  been  brought  to 
Brazil  from  the  United  States  they  have  rapidly  degen- 
erated, delicate  nurslings  of  exotic  temperament;  be- 
side them  the  old  estirpe  selvagem  flourishes  and  yields 
royally.  G.  pxirpurescens  is  another  black-seeded  peren- 
nial, identified  with  the  “Bourbon”  of  Porto  Rico,  and 
said  to  owe  its  introduction  into  Brazil  to  the  French. 
G.  barbadense  is  a blood-brother  of  the  vitifolium , and 
like  all  the  Sea  Island-Egyptian  group,  is  a highly 
esteemed  producer  of  top-priced  cotton.  The  fourth  of 
this  class  is  G.  brasiliense , a true  native,  observed  grow- 
ing wild  by  Jean  Lery  as  early  as  1557. 

The  two  most  precious  of  the  list,  Gossypium  peru- 
vianum  and  Gossypium  vitifolium , possess  the  advan- 
tage of  being  genuine  South  Americans;  they  form  a 
magnificent  stock  from  which  the  expert  cotton  grower 
can  develop  a product  for  the  market  which  need  not 
fear  Sea  Island  as  a rival. 

Cultivation  of  cotton  by  the  Portuguese  colonists 
began  very  soon  after  the  granting  of  the  capitanias 
in  1530.  By  the  year  1570  large  crops  were  being  pro- 
duced in  Bahia,  chief  centre  of  industrial  activity,  al- 
though they  could  not  equal  sugar  in  value.  Europe 
was  just  beginning  to  use  this  material,  for  with  the 
acquisition  of  strips  of  India  by  the  Portuguese  there 


224 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


was  an  entry  into  European  markets  of  Calicut  “calico.” 
Before  this  dawn  of  the  cotton  era  Europe  went  clothed 
in  leather,  wool,  and,  on  occasions  of  great  splendour, 
silk.  We  may  conclude  that  the  clothing  of  the  day 
was  probably  as  comfortable  as,  and  certainly  more 
substantial  than,  garments  of  the  present  period,  if 
not  as  sanitary:  but  cleanliness  had  not  yet  become  a 
virtue.  India  taught  Europe  the  use  of  cotton,  and 
the  spindles  and  looms  of  the  ladies  were  filled  with 
the  vegetable  fibre  in  lieu  of  wool. 

In  Pernambuco  the  culture  of  cotton  became  of  more 
importance  than  sugar;  farther  south  the  Paulistas 
set  their  Indian  slaves  to  work  and  were  soon  produc- 
ing cotton  crops  on  widely  spread  plantations.  In  the 
seventeenth  century  cotton  was  carried  into  Minas 
Geraes  by  the  gold  hunting  bandeirantes,  but  it  was 
only  cultivated  in  the  most  desultory  manner  and  when 
there  was  nothing  else  for  the  slaves  to  do.  So  com- 
plete indeed  was  disregard  of  all  agricultural  work  that 
actual  famines  occurred  in  1697-98  and  in  1700-01  on 
account  of  the  abandonment  of  plantations  for  gold- 
washing districts. 

When  the  Marquis  de  Pombal  practically  ruled  the 
destinies  of  Portugal  good  fortune  led  him  to  take  a 
shrewd  interest  in  Brazil;  especially  interested  in  the 
comparatively  new  settlements  at  Para  and  Maranhao, 
and  struck  by  the  fine  fibre  exported  from  these  north- 
erly regions,  he  decided  upon  the  establishment  of 
spinning  and  weaving  mills.  In  1750  the  Marquis  de 
Tavora  was  given  the  task  of  engaging  expert  weavers 
for  the  colonies,  and  shortly  afterwards  the  first  cotton- 
cloth  factories  were  set  up  in  Brazil.  Pombal’s  fatherly 
interest  in  weaving  did  not  extend  to  the  south;  these 


INDUSTRIES 


225 


sections  of  the  country  should  devote  their  time  to 
mining  and  agriculture,  he  thought,  and  finding  that 
looms  were  being  set  up  all  along  the  coast  and  in  the 
interior  of  Minas — always  a good  cotton  region — he 
passed  a law  in  1766  prohibiting  cotton  and  silk  weav- 
ing. It  had  the  desired  effect  of  checking  the  develop- 
ment of  any  considerable  commerce,  but  did  not  pre- 
vent the  use  of  hand  looms  in  almost  every  farm,  where 
a patch  of  cotton  was  as  much  a part  of  the  crop  as  a 
field  of  maize.  In  a relatorio  of  1779  the  Viceroy  Luis 
de  Vasconcellos  reported  to  Lisbon  on  the  “independ- 
ence of  the  people  of  Minas  of  European  goods,  estab- 
lishing looms  and  factories  in  their  own  fazendas,  and 
making  cloth  writh  which  they  clothe  themselves  and 
their  families  and  slaves.  . . 

In  1785  the  Portuguese  Government  ordered  the 
suppression  of  all  factories  in  Brazil;  they  must  have 
been  considerably  advanced,  despite  the  previous 
orders,  if  the  decree  abolishing  establishments  for 
making  “ribbons,  laces  of  gold  or  silver  velvets,  satins, 
taffetas,  bombazine,  printed  calico,  fustian,”  etc.,  etc., 
meant  anything.  In  spite  of  this  the  weaving  of  coarse 
cottons  managed  to  survive,  perhaps  with  the  conniv- 
ance of  sympathetic  Viceroys,  and  repeated  letters 
emphasized  the  inconvenience  of  factories  in  Brazil:  a 
carta  regia  of  1802  instructed  the  Governor  of  Minas 
Geraes  not  to  allow  “anyone  to  present  himself  before 
him  unless  dressed  in  materials  manufactured  in  the 
Kingdom  or  the  Asiatic  dominions.” 

The  transference  of  the  Portuguese  monarchy  to 
Brazil  in  1808  changed  all  these  ideas — which  helps  to 
demonstrate  the  still  burning  need  for  all  rulers,  of 
whatever  denomination,  to  take  a travelling  course — 


226 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


and  in  a few  years  cotton  threads  and  cloths  were  freed 
from  duties,  the  Prince  Regent  sent  a master-weaver 
at  his  own  expense  to  set  up  fabricas  in  the  interior, 
and  by  1820  the  industry  was  thriving.  Cotton  grow- 
ing was  equally  stimulated  at  this  period  by  high  prices 
in  England;  in  1818  that  country  was  not  only  buying 
raw  cotton,  but  cotton  cloth,  from  Brazil. 

With  the  development  of  the  south  of  the  United 
States  in  cotton  production  on  a great  scale  a shadow 
fell  over  the  Brazilian  industry.  Unable  to  compete 
with  the  low  prices  at  which  North  America  offered  her 
bales  in  the  early  eighteen-forties  the  farmers  of  the 
southerly  states  of  Brazil  checked  their  planting,  and, 
coffee  just  then  dawning  upon  them  as  a commercial 
possibility,  filled  up  the  empty  spaces  in  the  fields  with 
the  beans  of  coffea  arabica.  North  Brazil,  with  its 
special  cottons  of  long  staple,  kept  on  producing  these 
varieties  for  home  mills,  steadily  at  work,  and  for  Euro- 
pean export;  a new  incentive  came  with  the  Civil  War 
of  the  United  States  when  Confederate  cotton  ship- 
ments were  contraband  and  English  spinners  were  at 
their  wits’  end  for  raw  material,  but  prices  sank  with 
the  declaration  of  peace. 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  Brazilian 
exports  of,  and  prices  received  for,  national  cotton 
have  varied  so  remarkably  that  it  is  worth  while  glanc- 
ing at  the  statistics;  almost  the  whole  of  the  export  of 
this  raw  cotton,  and  of  cotton-seed,  went  to  England. 
If  in  addition  to  this  export  we  reckon  about  fifty 
thousand  tons  as  the  amount  consumed  by  the  fac- 
tories of  the  country,  the  whole  production  of  Brazil 
can  never  have  exceeded  ninety  thousand  tons. 


INDUSTRIES 


227 


Year 

Tons 

Value 

In  Gold  Milreis 

1902. . . 

• • -32,137  • • • 

t-H 

O 

0' 

contos  (one  conto  equals 

1903 . . . 

. . .28,235  . . . 

. . . . 1 1,766 

1000  milreis) 

1904. . . 

. . . 13,262  . . . 

• •••  7,347 

66 

1905 . . . 

. . . 24,081  . . . 

. . . . 10,291 

66 

1906. . . 

. . .31,668  . . . 

14,726 

66 

1907. . . 

. . .38,036  . . . 

. . . .15,418 

66 

1908. . . 

• • • 3,56s  • • • 

• ...  1,833 

66 

1909. . . 

. . . 9,968  . . . 

. . . . 5,261 

66 

1910. . . 

. . . 1 1,160  . . . 

••••  7,934 

66 

1911 . . . 

. . . 14,647  . . . 

....  8,714 

66 

1912 . . . 

. . . 16,774  . . . 

. . . . 9,221 

66 

1913- ■ • 

• • .37,423  • • • 

• • • .20,513 

66 

1914. . . 

• • -30,434  • • - 

. . . .16,556 

66 

1915. . . 

• • • 5,223  . . . 

• ...  2,551 

66 

Exports  almost  vanished,  to  1000  tons,  in  1916,  not 
recovering  fully  until  1920,  when  25,000  tons  were 
shipped. 

What  measures  are  being  taken  in  Brazil  to  develop 
cotton  culture?  First  let  us  take  into  consideration 
new  governmental  means  of  assisting  the  industry. 
When  the  drought  of  1914-15  scorched  up  northern 
plantations  the  weavers  found  themselves  paying 
higher  prices  inside  Brazil  than  the  same  national 
cotton  was  bringing  in  Liverpool.  The  Centro  Indus- 
trial, a very  strong  and  useful  body,  asked  the  Govern- 
ment to  hold  an  enquiry,  and  the  also  extremely  power- 
ful Centro  do  Commercio  e Industria  of  Sao  Paulo 
made  the  suggestion  that  duties  against  imported 
cotton  should  be  remitted  so  that  the  mills  could  get 
cheap  supplies  of  foreign  material.  Remarking  on  the 
situation  the  Gazeta  de  Noticias  of  Rio  said:  “On  one 
side  we  have  the  cotton  planting  industry  declaring 


228 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


that  it  will  face  certain  extinction  if  the  door  is  opened 
to  foreign  raw  material;  on  the  other  is  the  weaving 
industry  declaring  that  it  must  shut  its  doors  if  it  is  not 
permitted  to  buy  from  foreign  markets!” 

The  Federal  Government  only  temporarily  remitted 
dues,  believing  that  the  situation  would  remedy  itself 
with  the  new  crop — rain  fell  copiously  at  last  in  the 
scourged  districts,  and  Ceara  alone  foretold  a cotton 
crop  of  twelve  thousand  tons  for  1916 — but  prepared 
to  consider  measures  to  open  up  larger  areas  of  country 
to  this  culture.  A project  submitted  to  the  Legislature 
at  the  end  of  1915  suggested  the  construction  of  good 
cart  roads  in  cotton  districts,  and  the  establishment  of 
modern  gins  at  convenient  points,  at  the  expense  of 
the  Government. 

Already,  three  years  ago,  the  Government  had  ac- 
quired the  services  of  Professor  Edward  Green,  a cotton 
expert  from  the  United  States  who  has  been  working 
with  the  double  object  of  classifying  and  standard- 
izing the  best  cottons  for  plantation  in  Brazil,  and 
of  noting  the  best  regions  for  such  plantations.  At 
the  Conferencia  Algodoeira  (Cotton  Conference)  held 
in  Rio  under  the  auspices  of  the  Centro  da  Industria 
in  June,  1916,  Professor  Green  gave  an  address 
dealing  with  some  phases  of  his  labours,  and  con- 
cluded by  saying: 

“After  three  years  of  observation  and  experiment  in 
Brazil  I am  convinced  that  this  country,  above  any 
other,  possesses  excellent  natural  conditions  for  cotton 
production,  and  that  the  development  of  this  great 
national  resource  depends  only  upon  the  adoption  of  a 
few  simple  measures: 

“1.  The  selection  and  standardization  of  superior 


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229 


types,  and  the  production  of  great  quantities  of 
selected  seeds  for  distribution. 

“2.  Introduction  of  simple,  animal-drawn  cultivators, 
with  practical  instruction  on  their  use  to  be 
given  to  large  planters  of  cotton  in  the  interior. 
“3.  Stimulation  by  the  Government  of  all  activities 
related  to  the  cotton  industry,  and  suspension 
for  some  years  of  all  connected  taxes  and  duties. 

“Extensive  propaganda  in  favor  of  cotton  growing 
is  being  animated  by  the  far-seeing  and  incomparable 
activity  of  Dr.  Miguel  Calmon.  If  this  work  is  con- 
tinued in  all  parts  of  the  country  where  cotton  is 
cultivated  there  is  no  doubt  of  success.  The  cotton 
production  of  Brazil  will  find  itself  doubled  if  not  quad- 
rupled in  a short  time,  and  this  country  will  take  the 
high  place  in  world  markets  which  is  legitimately  hers 
as  the  greatest  exporter  of  high-class  cotton.” 

Both  Federal  and  State  Governments  have  brought 
technical  experts  from  foreign  countries  to  help  in  the 
solution  of  Brazilian  problems;  the  Directorship  of  the 
Jardim  Botanico  in  Rio,  where  a series  of  valuable 
experiments  in  tropical  agriculture  were  carried  out, 
was  for  some  time  in  the  hands  of  an  English  expert, 
Dr.  John  Willis,  who  brought  his  knowledge  of  Ceylon 
and  Malaysia  to  bear  upon  Brazilian  conditions;  the 
work  of  the  eminent  Swiss,  Dr.  Emil  Goeldi,  on  the 
Amazon,  succeeded  by  the  labours  of  Dr.  Jacques 
Huber,  have  been  invaluable  in  regard  to  classification  of 
North  Brazilian  natural  plants  and  their  adaptation  to 
commercial  uses,  as  well  as  the  introduction  of  suitable 
tropical  fruits,  etc.,  from  other  regions.  The  Ministry 
of  Agriculture  in  Rio  is  the  centre  of  much  live  work, 


230 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


and  has  had  a series  of  excellent  men  at  its  head.  The 
brilliant  Pedro  de  Toledo  was  neither  the  first  nor  the 
last  of  agricultural  devotees  in  this  post. 

The  work  of  State  Societies  of  Agriculture  is  more 
highly  specialized,  and  cotton  has  its  list  of  societies  just 
as  coffee,  cacao,  sugar  and  tobacco  have  theirs.  Many 
big  cotton  estate  owners  take  a keen  interest  in  improv- 
ing conditions  of  production,  and  have  been  during  the 
last  few  years  definitely  helped  by  the  American  expert 
already  referred  to  and  by  a Texan  cotton  grower  at 
the  head  of  demonstration  farms  operated  by  the 
Leopoldina  Railway  Company.  One  meets  in  Brazil  an 
unusually  high  percentage  of  finely  educated  men  who 
are  fazendeiros,  who  willingly  leave  the  gay  cities  of  the 
coast  to  live  in  patriarchal  authority  upon  interior 
farms  having  as  their  sole  connection  with  the  outside 
world  a narrow  mule-track;  they  appear  to  have  in- 
herited the  affection  for  land  of  their  own  possession 
which  sent  the  early  Portuguese  so  far  afield,  and  which 
seldom  seems  to  be  mingled  with  any  dislike  of  solitude. 
It  is  this  feeling  which  scantily  populates  the  sertao 
with  fazendas,  far  removed  from  any  town,  dotting  the 
vast  interior  with  nucleos  of  independent  life;  it  may  be 
partly  due  to  a strain  of  Indian  ancestry,  for  it  extends 
to  the  upper  reaches  of  the  Amazon  and  its  tributaries, 
lining,  at  infrequent  intervals,  the  banks  of  forest-bound 
rivers  with  palm-thatch  huts,  their  foundations  in  the 
water,  where  families  subsist  upon  a handful  of  farinha, 
and  fish  caught  in  the  flood  below  them,  looking 
with  unenvious  eyes  at  the  passing  boats  of  rubber 
collectors  and  apparently  quite  content  with  their 
withdrawal  from  the  world.  To  such  a people, 
not  markedly  gregarious,  the  opening  of  great  tracts 


INDUSTRIES 


231 


of  interior  is  in  accord  with  their  instincts,  and 
cultivation  is  but  a matter  of  communication  and 
transport. 

The  cotton  country  of  Brazil  needs  expert  growers 
and  good  roads  or  rail  service;  it  will  not  lack  the  work 
of  the  small  native  farmer. 

There  is  a cotton  cloth  factory  near  Pernambuco 
which  is  an  excellent  example  of  a self-contained  in- 
dustry in  Brazil.  Situated  seven  miles  outside  the 
mediaeval  port-city  of  Olinda,  whose  narrow  cobbled 
streets  are  lined  with  tiled  and  gabled  houses  reminis- 
cent of  Dutch  regimen,  the  estate  covers  forty-five 
square  miles  of  pasture  and  woodland  besides  the  area 
directly  occupied  by  the  works  and  the  village  of  em- 
ployees; one  edge  borders  on  the  sea,  fringed  with 
coconuts,  and  there  are  two  little  ports  where  native 
barcagas  bring  their  loads  of  raw  cotton  and  merchan- 
dise, at  the  mouths  of  two  rivers  flowing  through  the 
estate. 

Here,  on  the  warm  coast  of  the  northern  promontory 
with  its  tropic  vegetation  and  mestizo  population,  a 
Brazilian  company  started  a factory  for  spinning  and 
weaving;  it  was  not  a marked  success  until  Herman 
Lundgren,  an  energetic  man  of  Swedish  birth,  resident 
in  Brazil  since  1866  and  later  a naturalized  Brazilian, 
took  over  the  management  of  the  property.  He  made  an 
arrangement  by  which  the  original  owners  were  paid 
ten  per  cent  on  their  investment,  all  farther  profits  be- 
longing to  himself,  and  later  on  bought  out  the  old  stock- 
holders; new  machinery  was  brought  from  Great  Britain, 
technical  workers  imported  from  Manchester,  and  the 
scope  of  the  business  enlarged  so  that  today  all  processes 
for  producing  fine  coloured  cotton  cloths  are  performed 


232  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

on  the  estate — spinning,  weaving,  dyeing  and  colour- 
printing. When  the  writer  visited  the  factory  in  the 
early  part  of  1915  a shortage  of  dyestuffs  was  predicted 
and  I understand  that  since  that  time  experiments  have 
been  successfully  made  with  native  vegetable  dyes, 
too  long  abandoned  for  the  convenient  aniline  va- 
rieties. 

The  factory  employs  three  thousand  five  hundred 
people,  of  whom  seventy  per  cent  are  women  and  chil- 
dren; the  total  population  in  the  village  is  fifteen  thou- 
sand. Over  thirty-five  thousand  dollars  a month  is 
paid  in  wages.  The  manager  of  the  mills,  an  English- 
man, spoke  highly  of  the  Brazilian  operatives:  the  com- 
pany has  never  taken  any  measures  to  import  other 
labour  than  that  of  the  district;  the  majority  of  the 
workmen’s  dwellings  are  built  and  owned  by  the  com- 
pany, and  are  rented  out  cheaply,  while  in  some  cases 
these  modest  cottages  of  sun-dried  brick,  thatched  with 
palm  or  covered  with  a zinc  or  tile  roof,  have  been 
erected  by  the  workmen  themselves,  their  only  obliga- 
tion to  the  company  being  the  payment  of  ground  rent 
of  two  to  four  milreis  a month,  the  palm-thatched  house 
paying  the  lowest  and  the  zinc-roofed  the  highest  rate. 
The  company  maintains  a school,  hospital  and  dis- 
pensary, free,  for  the  villagers. 

Apart  from  the  mills  the  estate  contains  a dairy  and 
stock  farm — where  some  well-known  English  horses 
occupy  stables,  apparently  unperturbed  by  their  trans- 
ference to  Brazilian  tropics — tile  and  brick  factories,  a 
bakery,  blacksmith’s  shop,  and  lumber  yard.  The 
company  uses  one  thousand  tons  of  coal  a month  when 
it  can  be  obtained,  but  curtailment  of  imports  since  the 
outbreak  of  the  European  War  has  entailed  a greater 


INDUSTRIES 


233 


use  of  wood  fuel.  This  is  cut  from  the  matto  on  the 
estate,  typical  Brazilian  woodland  of  great  beauty, 
containing  a marked  variety  of  different  trees,  but 
notable  for  its  absence  of  animal  life  with  the  exception 
of  insects  and  some  fine  butterflies  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  streams  and  pools. 

The  estate  produces  no  cotton,  purchasing  all  of  this 
raw  material  from  Pernambuco  and  Parahyba;  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  bags  weighing  seventy-five  kilos  each  are 
used  daily,  and  the  monthly  bill  for  cotton  amounted 
to  £35,000  or  £40,000  even  when  the  price  of  Bra- 
zilian cotton  was  down  to  about  eleven  milreis  an 
arroba  (fifteen  kilos),  equal  at  the  rate  of  exchange 
then  prevailing  to  about  eight  cents  a pound  United 
States  currency;  but  towards  the  end  of  1915  native 
cotton  rose  in  Brazil  to  twenty-five  and  thirty  cents  a 
pound  in  consequence  of  the  drought  in  the  North  fol- 
lowed by  crop  failures,  and  factories  all  over  the  country 
suffered  from  the  shortage. 

Pernambuco  and  other  northern  factories  had  an 
advantage  in  being  nearer  sources  of  supply,  the  differ- 
ence in  freight  enabling  these  mills  to  get  raw  material 
at  a rate  at  least  twenty  per  cent  below  that  paid  by  the 
importers  of  Rio  and  S.  Paulo.  From  forty  thousand 
pounds  to  fifty  thousand  pounds  a year  is  spent  bv  the 
factory  on  drugs,  colours  and  chemicals. 

Production  of  cotton  cloth  averages  one  million,  five 
hundred  thousand  metres  a month,  woven  on  nine  hun- 
dred and  sixty  looms;  the  cloth  measures  twenty- two  to 
twenty-six  inches  in  width  and  has  an  immense  variety, 
from  heavy  blue  denim  to  fine  flowered  fabrics  woven  or 
printed  in  brilliant  colours,  beloved  by  Brazilian  working 
classes.  Trains  of  mules  pass  daily  along  the  road  from 


234 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


the  factory,  each  animal  carrying  two  bales  of  cotton 
cloth  weighing  seventy-five  kilos  each;  the  whole  of  this 
output  is  sold  in  Brazil,  distributed  over  half  a score  of 
different  States  by  shops  established  by  the  company. 
There  are  over  eighty  of  these  stores,  selling  cloth  and 
also  ready  made  garments  of  simple  make,  in  Pernam- 
buco State  alone,  as  well  as  others  in  Bahia,  Ceara, 
Parahyba,  Rio,  S.  Paulo,  Matto  Grosso,  etc. 

HERVA  MATTE 

Herva  matte,  sometimes  called  “Paraguay  tea,”  is 
the  leaf  of  a small  tree  belonging  to  the  ilex  family.  It 
is,  botanically,  ilex  paraguayensis,  and  has  much  the 
appearance  of  a small,  particularly  dense  live-oak.  It 
grows  wild,  and  very  thickly,  in  the  south  Brazilian 
State  of  Parana,  the  forests  straying  out  into  Matto 
Grosso,  Sao  Paulo,  Santa  Catharina,  Rio  Grande  do 
Sul,  and  over  the  borders  of  the  Argentine;  but  Parana 
is  the  great  home  of  the  little  tree  and  of  the  manufac- 
ture of  the  leaf  into  a commercial  product.  Its  preferred 
habitat  is  from  1 500  to  2000  feet  above  sea  level,  and  until 
recently  it  had  never  been  cultivated  successfully  except 
by  the  early  Jesuit  missionaries;  but  now  Argentina  an- 
nounces her  intention  of  fostering  plantations  of  matte, 
and  the  Brazilian  exporters  are  more  alarmed  than  were 
the  rubber  shippers  of  the  Amazon  when  they  first  heard 
of  Wickham’s  experiments. 

Prepared  in  Brazil,  matte  has  little  sale  in  that  coun- 
try; only  the  states  of  the  southern  border  have  learned 
to  drink  the  infusion.  Buyers  and  users  of  the  leaf  are, 
first,  Argentinos  and  next  Paraguayanos,  with  several 
other  South  American  countries  taking  smaller  quan- 


INDUSTRIES 


235 


titles;  the  confirmed  matte  drinker  rejects  Indian  teas 
and  coffee  with  contempt,  and  there  is  undoubtedly 
much  to  be  said  for  this  herb.  It  is  tonic,  is  not  accused 
of  possessing  nerve-attacking  properties  to  the  same 
extent  as  tea  or  coffee,  and  has  a delicate  flavour:  it  has  a 
good  opportunity  to  prove  its  qualities  in  world  mark- 
ets, now  that  a society  has  been  formed  in  Parana  to 
defend  and  advertise  it.  In  the  Argentine  stock-raising 
districts  every  gaucho  has  his  apparatus  for  making  the 
infusion,  and  is  said  to  be  able  to  work  all  day  on  this 
drink  and  a little  bread. 

The  leaves  are  gathered  for  three  or  four  months  in 
the  year,  May  or  June  until  August;  carried  to  a central 
hearth,  they  are  dried  over  fires,  packed  in  bags  and 
sent  on  mule-back  to  Ponta  Grossa  or  Curityba,  and 
there  carefully  prepared  for  export.  Mills  and  sieves  of 
Brazilian  invention  reduce  the  dried  leaves  to  powder, 
divide  it  into  qualities  according  to  the  fineness  of  the 
reduction,  and  pack  for  export;  Paranagua  is  the  matte 
port.  Thousands  of  colonists  and  isolated  dwellers  of 
interior  Parana  depend  upon  matte  for  the  basis  of  their 
living;  the  hervaes  (matte  forests)  are  often  seen  together 
with  the  fantastic  Parana  pine,  a thick  green  growth 
below  the  tall  stems  of  this  other  tree  characteristic  of 
the  landscape  of  southern  Brazil.  The  Parana  pine, 
besides  its  value  as  a yielder  of  excellent  lumber,  is  noted 
for  its  product  of  pine  kernels  so  large  that  they  often 
exceed  good-sized  chestnuts  in  bulk.  They  are  to  be 
seen  in  huge  sacks  on  sale  in  all  the  markets  of  South 
Brazil,  are  boiled  like  chestnuts  and  form  a nutritious 
and  excellent  food.  They  should  be  better  known,  but 
their  use  seems  to  be  largely  confined  to  the  Italian 
population,  who  have  always  had  a predilection  for  pine 


236  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

kernels:  when  the  Romans  invaded  Britain  they  brought 
and  planted  pine  trees  of  the  nut-yielding  variety. 

Each  matte  herval  is  invaded  in  the  picking  season  by 
local  gatherers;  the  central  fire  is  started,  the  trees 
stripped  of  small  branches;  care  is  taken  to  prune  them 
so  that  succeeding  yields  are  not  injured;  there  is  not  a 
great  variety  of  shrubs  in  the  vicinity  of  the  matte 
forests,  and  not  much  cleaning  has  to  be  done.  Brought 
down  to  the  ports,  the  cost  of  prepared  matte  rarely 
exceeds  six  cents:  including  freight  and  other  costs  it 
could  be  placed  upon  North  American  markets  as  it  is  in 
European,  at  about  eighteen  to  twenty  cents  a pound 
in  normal  times. 

During  the  year  1915  Brazil  exported  her  highest 
record  of  matte  to  date,  75,800  tons,  but  left  this  figure 
far  behind  in  1919  and  1920,  with  over  90,000  tons. 
This  was  not  such  a good  price  as  that  of  1913,  when 
sixty-five  thousand  tons  fetched  21,000  contos,  at  an 
average  price  of  five  hundred  and  forty-two  reis  per 
kilo.  The  amount  exported  has  gone  up  steadily  since 
the  beginning  of  the  century,  when  thirty-five  to  forty 
thousand  tons  was  a fair  total. 

Argentina,  the  most  important  buyer  of  the  “yerba,” 
has  for  some  years  imposed  certain  restrictions  upon  the 
entry  of  Brazilian  matte,  insisting,  as  she  is  right  to 
insist,  on  guarantees  and  proofs  of  its  purity:  Brazil  has 
conformed  with  wishes  of  the  Argentine  authorities. 
In  April,  1915,  the  customs-houses  of  Buenos  Aires 
were  circularized  by  the  Argentine  Minister  of  Finance, 
requesting  tests  which  would  have  meant  the  opening 
and  submitting  to  chemical  analysis  of  each  package  of 


INDUSTRIES 


237 


matte.  Compliance  meant  a very  large  addition  to 
costs,  as  each  separate  analysis  meant  an  expenditure  of 
at  least  ten  Argentine  pesos,  or  about  four  dollars;  as  a 
result  importation  ceased  and  orders  were  counter- 
manded. A month  later  restrictions  were  modified,  but 
one  analysis  of  each  consignment  being  obligatory;  at 
the  same  time  even  more  rigid  measures  were  taken  to 
ensure  the  entry  of  nothing  but  unmixed  leaves,  the 
Argentine  Counsel  of  Hygiene  urging  the  Government 
not  to  admit  any  matte  which  did  not  contain  at  least 
seven  per  thousand  of  mateina  or  cafeina. 

No  such  rules,  meanwhile,  have  been  imposed  upon 
matte  of  Argentine  origin  or  milling;  the  product  of  the 
home  mills  is  not  free  from  suspicion  of  adulteration 
with  other  herbs,  and  the  Revista  de  Economia  y Finan- 
zas  of  Buenos  Aires  (July,  1916)  wrote  scathingly  of 
the  law  which  “imposes  analysis  upon  the  foreign 
product,  with  the  preservation  of  public  health  as 
object,  while  the  product  of  our  mills,  uninspected,  may 
endanger  it.”  The  root  of  the  Argentine  obstacle  really 
seems  to  be  a new  project  for  planting  the  tree  on  an 
extensive  scale  in  the  territory  of  Misiones,  bordering 
on  the  south  Brazilian,  matte-producing,  states;  the 
plan  includes  plantation  of  thirty  thousand  hectares  of 
land  and  the  construction  of  a railway  line.  If  success 
crowns  this  enterprise  Brazil  will  not  immediately  be 
forced  to  search  for  other  consumers  of  the  product  of 
her  two  hundred  thousand  square  kilometers  of  matte 
forests,  but  in  the  course  of  a few  years  she  might  find 
her  industry  seriously  threatened.  If  the  society  which 
has  taken  up  matte  defence  and  advertisement  is  only 
half  as  successful  as  that  specializing  in  Brazilian  coffee 
propaganda,  matte  will  find  good  markets  north  of  the 


238  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


equator  should  those  below  it  fail  her.  The  following 
is  the  analysis  of  matte,  compared  with  green  tea, 
black  tea,  and  coffee: — 

In  1000  parts. 

Green  Tea  Black  Tea  Coffee  Matte 


Essential  oil 7.90....  6.00....  0.41....  0.01 

Chlorophyll 22.20....  18.14....  13.66....  62.00 

Resin 22.20....  36.40....  13.66....  20.69 

Tannin 178.00.  ...  128.80.  ..  . 16.39....  12.28 

Theine  or  caffeine  . 4.30....  4.60....  2.66....  2.50 

Fibre  & cellulose  ..175.80.... 283 . 20. ...  174. 83  ....  180. 00 

Ash 85.60....  54.40....  25.61....  38.10 

Extract  and  colour- 
ing matter 464.00. . . .390.00.  . . .270.67.  . . .238.83 

960.00. .. .921.54. .. .517.89. .. .554.41 


Out  of  her  total  exports  in  1915  of  nearly  seventy-six 
thousand  tons,  Brazil  sent  over  fifty-eight  thousand  to 
Argentina,  fourteen  thousand  to  Uruguay,  and  three 
thousand  tons  to  Chile.  In  1920,  seventy  thousand  tons 
were  sold  to  the  Argentine,  eighteen  thousand  tons  to 
Uruguay,  and  rather  more  than  three  thousand  to  Chile, 
where  sales  of  Oriental  teas  compete  with  the  matte  leaf. 

SUGAR 

Sugar  production  is  one  of  the  Brazilian  industries 
which  have  waxed,  waned,  and  with  the  encourage- 
ment of  high  market  prices  abroad,  has  recently  again 
forged  ahead.  As  in  the  case  of  cotton,  sugar  can  be  and 
is  grown  in  the  great  majority  of  Brazilian  states,  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Amazon  down  to  the  Laguna  Mirim, 
but  there  are  areas,  chiefly  on  the  central  littoral,  where 


INDUSTRIES 


239 


soil  and  climate  are  so  well  suited  to  sugar-cane  that 
production  from  these  regions  is  able  to  compete  with 
other  world  offerings.  There  was  a time  when  Brazil 
was  the  chief  source  of  sugar  supplies  to  Europe,  but 
the  industry  suffered  two  great  blows — one,  the  stimula- 
tion of  cane-growing  in  the  British  West  Indies,  and 
again  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  Brazil  in  1888,  which 
resulted  in  many  instances  in  the  abandonment  of  the 
plantations  by  a large  part  of  the  negro  population, 
crowding  into  the  coast  cities  to  enjoy  new  liberty. 

Cane  production  has  all  the  advantages  of  an  ancient 
industry  whose  details  have  long  been  reduced  to  an 
exact  science.  Its  recorded  history  goes  back  to  the 
fifth  century,  so  that  we  can  reckon  that  there  have 
been  fourteen  centuries  of  experiment  in  cane  culture. 
A native  of  Bengal,  sugar  was  in  cultivation  in  the  fifth 
century  along  the  valleys  of  the  Tigris  and  the  Eu- 
phrates; the  conquering  Moors  took  it  into  Spain  in  the 
eighth  century,  and  during  the  following  six  or  seven 
centuries  its  cultivation  on  a limited  scale  proceeded  on 
the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  In  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury when  Portugal  re-found  and  colonized  Madeira 
and  the  Azores,  sugar-cane  was  introduced  into  these 
islands,  flourished  there,  and  yielded  sugar  to  the  home 
market  in  Lisbon.  That  it  was  an  exotic  luxury  in 
Europe  generally  is  proved  by  its  price:  a hundred- 
weight sold  in  London  in  1842  fetched  £55.  Twenty- 
five  years  later  the  price  had  dropped  to  ten  pounds 
for  a like  quantity,  but  by  that  time  larger  supplies 
were  coming  in.  After  the  discovery  of  the  West 
Indian  Islands  by  Columbus  cane  was  introduced  into 
Hispaniola  and  Cuba  by  the  Spanish  settlers,  but 
cultivation  was  strongly  discouraged  by  the  home 


240 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


government,  who  chiefly  aimed  at  the  stimulation  of 
gold-mining.  Brazil,  whose  gold-deposits  were  luckily 
not  discovered  until  the  seventeenth  century,  became 
in  contrast  to  New  Spain  an  agricultural  country  from 
the  time  when  the  first  capitanias  were  allotted:  she 
began  shipping  sugar  in  the  visiting  Portuguese  cara- 
vels in  a few  years  after  first  settlement. 

Thenceforth  for  over  a century  and  a quarter  Brazil 
became  the  main  source  of  sugar  supplies  to  Europe; 
when  placer  gold  and  diamond-bearing  gravels  were 
found  by  the  bandeirantes  everyone  rushed  to  the  Gen- 
eral Mines  taking  slaves  along,  until  the  coast  planta- 
tions were  denuded  both  of  masters  and  labourers. 
Consequent  languishing  of  sugar  production  made  it 
worth  while  for  both  England  and  France  to  develop 
cane  growing  in  the  West  Indian  isles  which  they  had 
seized  from  Spain.  It  was  in  1662  that  the  British 
“Company  of  Royal  Adventurers  of  Africa”  agreed  to 
deliver  three  thousand  slaves  a year  to  the  British  West 
Indies,  and  sugar  production  in  Jamaica,  Barbados, 
etc.,  began  to  attract  wealthy  planters:  whole  fleets  of 
high-prowed  sailing  ships  came  into  Caribbean  waters 
to  take  away  sugar,  rum  and  molasses  in  those  palmy 
days,  enduring  until  Napoleon  started  the  beet-sugar 
industry  and  Great  Britain,  not  long  after,  abolished 
the  slave  trade. 

Europe  only  discovered  her  possession  of  a sweet 
tooth  during  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries. 
Before  the  great  production  of  sugar  from  the  New 
World  began  to  be  carried  to  Spain  and  Portugal,  and 
by  them  distributed  at  high  prices  and  in  small  quan- 
tities to  the  rest  of  Europe,  the  only  sweetening  known 
to  the  masses  of  the  population  was  honey,  and  this  was 


INDUSTRIES 


241 


a luxury.  There  was  no  taste  for  sweets  until  sweets 
became  common.  The  real  taste  of  the  Middle  Ages 
was  for  spices;  it  is  not  generally  realized  today  to 
what  extent  the  food  of  Europe  was  at  this  period  sat- 
urated with  cloves,  nutmeg,  cinnamon  and  other  spices 
brought  from  the  Orient.  It  was  for  the  “Spice  Isles” 
that  the  early  navigators  searched  the  wide  seas,  spices 
that  they  ate  with  a gusto  almost  incomprehensible 
today:  they  flavoured  their  beverages  and  scented  their 
clothes  with  spices. 

The  most  flourishing  centres  of  sugar  production  in 
Brazil  are  in  the  State  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  where  Campos 
is  the  focus  of  sugar  deliveries,  and  Pernambuco,  a 
thousand  miles  farther  north;  Sao  Paulo  has  also  an 
increasing  sugar  industry,  as  may  be  seen  from  the 
following  list  of  large  sugar  mills;  small  factories,  of 
which  there  are  hundreds  in  Brazil  chiefly  turning  out 
rapadura,  a brown  sugar-brick,  and  cachaga,  the  native 
rum,  are  not  included: — 


Alagoas 9 

Bahia 7 

Maranhao 3 

Minas  Geraes 7 

Parahyba  do  Norte 2 

Pernambuco 46 

Rio  de  Janeiro 31 

Santa  Catharina 2 

Sao  Paulo 20 

Sergipe 15 

Piauhy I 

Rio  Grande  do  Norte. ...  3 


139 


242  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

On  almost  every  cotton,  coffee,  tobacco  or  other 
fazenda  in  Brazil,  besides  those  given  over  to  sugar 
production,  one  finds  patches  of  the  bright  veridian 
green  that  demonstrates  the  presence  of  sugar,  grown 
and  milled  for  home  uses;  altogether  the  production  of 
sugar  in  Brazil  must  be  much  larger  than  is  shown  by 
any  statistics,  and  there  does  not  exist  any  compre- 
hensive estimate  of  the  total  amount.  A few  years  ago 
the  charge  could  be  made  that  Brazilian  sugar-milling 
methods  were  antiquated,  extraction  low  because  the 
machinery  employed  was  inferior:  but  whoever  repeats 
this  tale  today  has  not  seen  any  of  the  huge,  scientif- 
ically managed  estates  and  mills  of  Pernambuco,  the 
usinas  of  the  country  about  Campos,  where  the  sky-line 
is  punctuated  by  slim  chimneys,  or  any  of  the  fine 
modern  equipments  of  Sao  Paulo.  One  of  the  first  good 
mills  that  the  writer  saw  in  Brazil  was  at  Piracicaba,  in 
the  interior  of  Sao  Paulo,  where  an  excellent  product 
was  marketed  by  the  employment  of  thoroughly  up-to- 
date  methods.  Here  the  installation  of  machinery  is 
European,  chiefly  French,  but  there  has  been  an  in- 
creasing tendency  since  the  outbreak  of  war  in  Europe 
towards  purchases  of  American  equipment,  perhaps 
especially  among  the  usinas  of  the  northern  prom- 
ontory. 

Exports  of  sugar  from  Brazil  have  fluctuated  in  an 
extraordinary  manner  since  the  beginning  of  this  cen- 
tury; swift  drops  in  amounts  sent  abroad  have  nearly 
always  spelt  “drought,”  but  there  seems  to  have  been  a 
general  tendency  to  decline  until  the  stimulation  of 
war  prices  helped  the  industry,  due  partly  to  formidable 
competition  from  the  Caribbean  islands  and  coasts,  and 
partly  to  increased  consumption  in  Brazil.  A marked 


INDUSTRIES 


243 


feature  of  the  Brazilian  sugar  export  lists  is  a developing 
sale  to  Argentina;  it  has  been  recently  stimulated  by  the 
failure  of  Argentine  supplies,  but  is  also  part  of  the 
symptomatic  increase  of  interchange  between  the  com- 
mercial South  American  countries.  Brazilian  sugar 
exports,  shipped  in  bags  of  sixty  kilos  weight,  1906  to 
1920  in  round  numbers: — 


1906  85,000  tons 

1907  13,000  “ 

1908  32,000  “ 

1909  68,000  “ 

1910  59,ooo  “ 

1911  36,000  “ 

1912  4,800  “ 

1913  5,400  “ 

1914  32,000  “ 

1915  59,ooo  “ 

1916  54,000,000  “ 

1917  138,000,000  “ 

1918  116,000,000  “ 

1919  69,000,000  “ 

1920  109,000,000  “ 


The  price  has  ranged  during  this  period  from  two 
hundred  and  twenty-five  reis  per  kilo  paid  for  the  short 
crop  of  1904,  down  to  one  hundred  and  eight  reis  paid  in 
1906  when  the  crop  was  large;  from  that  low  point  it 
climbed  upwards,  fluctuating  about  one  hundred  and 
sixty  to  one  hundred  and  eighty  reis  from  1907  to  1913, 
fixed  exchange  making  this  price  the  equivalent  of 
about  three  and  a half  to  four  cents  a kilo,  or  something 
like  a cent  and  a quarter  to  a cent  and  three-quarters 
per  pound.  In  1914,  with  war  prices  encouraging  the 


244  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


sugar  market,  the  price  rose  to  two  hundred  and  twelve 
reis  a kilo,  and  in  1915  t°  two  hundred  and  forty-four 
reis,  a figure  exceeded  enormously  in  the  post-war 
boom  of  1919-20. 

The  average  yield  of  sugar-cane  per  hectare  in  Rio  de 
Janeiro  and  Sao  Paulo  is  fifty  tons,  or  let  us  say  some- 
thing over  twenty  tons  an  acre;  this  does  not  compare 
with  Caribbean  coast  yields,  where  eighty  or  ninety 
tons  an  acre  is  obtained  from  lands  impregnated  with 
volcanic  ash,  and  fields  are  to  be  seen  which  have  not 
been  re-planted  for  a dozen  years.  Brazilian  soils, 
chiefly  composed  of  drifts  of  disintegrated  granite, 
oxidized  by  the  sun  to  a brilliant  red  tint,  are  some- 
times very  rich,  but  also  are  frequently  just  good  honest 
soils  that  cannot  stand  abuse  without  exhaustion  fol- 
lowing; with  proper  rotation  of  crops  these  lands  will 
yield  generously,  but  it  is  scarcely  surprising  that,  in 
regions  where  sugar  has  been  almost  continuously 
cultivated  for  a couple  of  centuries,  the  cane  crop  per 
acre  is  comparatively  low. 

Pernambuco,  for  instance,  counts  her  cane  cultiva- 
tion from  the  year  1534,  when  the  first  engenho  (sugar 
mill),  piously  named  Nossa  Senhora  de  Ajuda , was 
established  near  the  settlement  at  Olinda. 

Brazilians  are  large  consumers  of  sugar;  the  internal 
consumption  has  been  calculated  at  three  hundred 
thousand  tons  a year,  or  some  eighty  to  ninety  pounds  a 
head  of  the  population,  and,  with  the  exception  of  fine 
sweets  imported,  chiefly  from  France,  all  of  the  sugar 
used  in  Brazil  is  nationally  produced.  The  sugar  grow- 
ing and  refining  industry  is  in  an  exceedingly  healthy 
condition,  is  one  of  the  important  national  resources, 


Carioca  Cotton  Mill,  Rio  de  Janeiro. 
Catende  Sugar  Mill,  Pernambuco. 


INDUSTRIES  24s 

and  has  shown  marked  revival  during  the  last  two 
years. 


TOBACCO 

The  use  of  tobacco  in  Brazil  dates  back  an  unknown 
number  of  centuries:  the  natives  smoked  the  leaf,  both 
in  the  form  of  rolled  cigars  and  also  in  small  quantities 
in  wooden  pipes,  made  in  the  fashion  which  Europe 
subsequently  adopted.  The  first  European  to  make 
any  record  of  this  habit  was  that  painstaking  French- 
man, Andre  Thevet,  who  came  to  Rio  de  Janeiro  with 
Villegaignon’s  unfortunate  expedition  in  November, 
1555;  he  says  that  the  native  name  for  the  plant  was 
“betun”  or  “petum,”  and  the  drawing  in  his  book 
{La  Cosmographie  Universelle)  identifies  it  with  Nic- 
otiana  tabacum.  In  the  Amazonian  regions  both  men 
and  women  smoked  tobacco  as  a recognized  form  of 
enjoyment,  and  its  effects  were  so  much  appreciated  by 
another  traveller,  Piso,  that  he  declared  it  to  be  one  of 
the  three  American  plants  which  had  no  equal  in  the 
Old  World  for  beneficial  uses — coca,  tobacco,  and  the 
root  of  mandioca.  Tobacco-smoking  by  American 
natives  had  first  been  noticed  by  the  crew  of  Columbus 
in  1492. 

During  the  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  Euro- 
peans began  to  take  to  the  use  of  tobacco,  the  Spanish 
colonies  sending  it  home  from  the  West  Indian  Islands 
and  the  Portuguese  from  Brazil;  it  was  not  until  about 
1600  that  it  was  seriously  cultivated  for  export  in  the 
Brazilian  capitanias,  and  when  experiments  were  made 
with  this  object  it  was  found  that  Bahia  yielded  the 
best  product,  although  that  of  Pernambuco  was  also 


246  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


good,  and  the  plant  produced  freely  all  along  the 
littoral,  from  Amazonas  to  the  lagoons  of  Rio  Grande 
do  Sul.  Tobacco  became  during  colonial  days  one  of 
the  important  exports  of  Brazil,  together  with  dye- 
woods  and  sugar. 

Brazil  marks  her  extensive  cultivation  of  tobacco 
from  about  1850,  after  her  ports  had  been  thrown  open 
to  world  commerce  and  the  flags  of  all  lands  were  seen 
in  her  ports.  In  i860  she  exported  4,609  tons;  in  1870, 
13,276  tons  and  in  1873,  nearly  17,000  tons,  of  which 
over  14,500  tons  came  from  Bahia.  By  the  year  1886 
Brazilian  exportation  had  risen  to  23,000  tons,  the  value 
was  over  15,000,000  francs  (or  more  than  $3,000,000) 
and  a part  of  this  to  the  value  of  3,500,000  francs,  “was 
returned  to  us  made  up  into  so-called  Havana  cigars,” 
remarks  Almeida.  “It  was  not  fashionable  to  smoke 
any  tobacco  or  cigars  other  than  of  the  Havana  kind  in 
Brazil  fifteen  years  ago.” 

Now  ideas  have  changed:  Brazil  realizes  the  value  of 
her  own  product,  and  Bahia  has  no  hesitation  in  chal- 
lenging Vuelta  Abajo  to  a comparison.  Soils  of  the 
two  regions  are  similar  in  qualities.  Father  north,  the 
Brazilian  fumo  has  a stronger,  less  delicate  flavour,  and 
is  largely  consumed  at  home;  cigarettes  of  Para,  Ama- 
zonas, Parahyba,  Pernambuco,  Matto  Grosso,  Minas, 
and  many  other  states  are  manufactured  in  large  quan- 
tities, and  sold  cheaply;  very  good  Para  cigarettes 
made  of  the  black  local  tobacco  sell  at  ten  for  a “tostao” 
— a fraction  over  two  cents. 

By  the  end  of  the  century  Brazilian  tobacco  produc- 
tion had  grown  to  some  forty  thousand  tons,  largely 
the  result  of  ready  markets  in  Germany,  which  prac- 
tically absorbed  the  whole  of  this  export  until  the  out- 


INDUSTRIES 


247 


break  of  the  European  War,  and  the  adoption  of  North 
American  seeds  and  methods  of  cultivation.  The  out- 
put suffers  fluctuations  due  to  climatic  conditions,  as 
will  be  seen  from  inspection  of  the  following  figures;  it 
will  be  noticed  that  prices  have  on  the  whole  a ten- 
dency to  rise: 


Year 

Tons 

Total  Value  in 
Gold  Milreis 

Price  per  Kilo  in 
Paper  Milreis 

1905 . . . 

• • .20,390.  . . 

■ . 7,335  contos  . . . 

636  reis 

1910. . . 

• • .34,149-  • ■ 

• 14,453  “ ... 

714  “ 

1915. . . 

. . .27,096.  . . 

5 

00 

835  “ 

1920. . . 

■ • ■ 3°>56i 

1200  “ 

In  calculating  prices  it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that 
the  gold  milreis  is  always  worth  twenty-seven  English 
pence,  while,  although  fixed  between  1906  and  1914 
at  sixteen  pence,  the  value  of  the  paper  milreis  fluc- 
tuates. During  1915  it  was  worth  an  average  of  a 
fraction  over  twelve  pence,  so  that  the  price  of  tobacco 
— eight  hundred  and  thirty-five  reis  a kilo — may  be 
considered  as  about  eighteen  cents  a kilo,  or  a little 
over  seven  American  cents  per  pound.  While,  as  we 
have  seen,  thirty  thousand  tons  of  tobacco  is  exported 
each  year  from  Brazil,  enough  remains  in  the  country 
to  supply  ninety-six  per  cent  of  the  internal  consump- 
tion; cigars,  tobacco  and  cigarettes  are  consumed  in 
the  country  to  the  value  of  40,622  contos,  importations 
being  worth  only  1,500  contos  of  this  amount. 

Every  state  in  Brazil  has  its  large  or  small  tobacco 
factories,  but  the  great  manufacturing  region  is  that  of 
Sao  Felix,  just  across  the  bay  from  Sao  Salvador  (Bahia) 
city.  Accessible  to  the  factories  established  here  are 


248 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


the  finest  tobacco  regions:  the  product  is  excellent  in 
flavour  and  well  prepared  for  a discriminating  market. 
Organizers  of  the  manufacturing  industry,  as  well  as 
shippers  to  Europe,  are  largely  German;  German  also 
is  the  big  cigar  factory  of  the  South,  that  of  Poock  in 
Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  whose  product  goes  all  over  Brazil. 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  European  War  the  ab- 
sence of  German  and  Austrian  shipping  movement 
has  paralyzed  tobacco  sales,  and  as  this  item  forms 
about  thirty  per  cent  of  Bahia’s  exports  it  was  neces- 
sary to  seek  unimpeded  sales  channels.  Negotiations 
were  opened  with  the  Regie  Frangaise,  the  great  French 
tobacco-buying  organization,  and  the  packing,  quality, 
fermentation  and  other  conditions  studied  with  refer- 
ence to  sales. 


CEREALS 

Wheat  growing  is  only  possible  on  a commercial 
scale  in  the  south  of  Brazil  where  temperature  and 
climate  are  not  unlike  those  of  the  European  lands  of 
origin  of  this  cereal.  At  present  Rio  Grande  is  the  only 
great  wheat  producing  state,  although  Parana  has  a 
budding  industry;  the  great  Italian  firm  of  Matarazzo 
has  recently  acquired  large  areas  of  land  in  that  state 
with  the  object  of  growing  wheat  and  establishing  a 
flour  mill. 

Rio  Grande,  which  owes  the  major  part  of  its  opening- 
up  to  the  German  settlers  who  emigrated  there  about 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  already  grows  half 
enough  wheat  to  satisfy  the  internal  needs  of  the  State, 
for  although  she  still  imports  361,000  barrels  of 
flour,  and  236,000  bushels  of  wheat  (equal  to  another 


INDUSTRIES 


249 


47,000  barrels)  yet  she  also  grows  enough  wheat  to 
yield  407,000  barrels  of  native  flour.  She  has,  it 
is  calculated,  over  83,000  hectares  of  land  under  wheat, 
employs  29,000  field  hands,  and  has  over  a thousand 
grain  mills.  Many  of  these  are  equipped  with  out-of- 
date  machinery,  and  are  small,  but  there  are  others 
fitted  with  good  modern  systems  producing  fine  flour. 

Two  of  the  best  wheat  producing  municipalities  are 
Alfredo  Chaves  and  Caxias,  each  of  which  have  over 
four  thousand  hectares  under  wheat  and  produce  an 
average  of  six  thousand  tons  of  this  grain;  the  first 
municipality  has  fifty-one  and  the  second  sixty-seven 
mills.  To  show  the  “rio-grandense”  growth  in  wheat 
production: 


1909  15*250  tons 

1910  31*267  “ 

1912 52*332  “ 

1915 55*000  “ 


Santa  Catharina  is  a cereal  State,  but  does  not  today 
produce  notable  quantities;  Sao  Paulo,  the  high  in- 
terior of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  and  the  hills  of  Minas,  are  all 
suitable;  fine  wheat,  barley  and  oats  are  often  seen  in 
the  vicinity  of  European  colonies.  But  Brazilian  pro- 
duction is  not  yet  within  measurable  distance  of  coping 
with  internal  demands,  and  as  a result  wheat,  with 
wheat-flour,  accounts  for  one-fifth  of  Brazil’s  total 
import  values.  The  bulk  of  the  grain  imported  comes 
from  the  River  Plate. 

Linked  with  the  agricultural  production  of  cereals  is 
the  flour-milling  industry,  which  dates  from  the  time 
when  wheat  entered  Brazil  free  of  duty  while  wheat- 
flour  paid  thirty  reis  a kilo:  this  was  the  condition  of 


250 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


the  tariff  until  December,  1899,  by  which  time  two 
large  mills  had  been  established  in  Rio  de  Janeiro.  In 
January  of  the  following  year  imported  wheat  was 
taxed  for  the  first  time,  ten  reis  a kilo,  while  the  duty 
on  flour  was  reduced  to  twenty-five  reis;  national  mill- 
ing profits  suffered  correspondingly. 

In  1906  other  alterations  were  made  in  the  tariff  as 
regards  flour  from  the  United  States,  in  addition  to 
certain  manufactured  articles;  it  was  suggested  to 
Brazil  that  the  United  States  was  a good  customer  for 
Paulista  coffee  and  Amazonian  rubber,  and  that  she 
expected  “most  favoured  nation”  treatment  in  return: 
a tax  of  three  American  cents  per  kilo  against  coffee 
was  indicated  as  a short  way  with  objectors.  Brazil 
yielded,  giving  the  United  States  a twenty  per  cent 
reduction  on  flour  import  duties,  as  well  as  for  con- 
densed milk,  manufactures  of  rubber,  clocks,  dyes, 
varnishes,  typewriters,  ice-boxes,  pianos,  scales  and 
wind-mills.  Four  years  later  the  preferential  tariff 
was  extended  to  dried  fruit,  cement,  school  and  office 
furniture,  and  in  1911  the  rebate  on  flour  entries  was 
changed  to  thirty  per  cent. 

As  a result  American  sales  of  the  goods  indicated 
have  increased  very  largely,  although  sales  of  rubber 
and  coffee  have  remained,  on  Brazil’s  part,  about  the 
same  for  the  last  seven  or  eight  years;  her  more  mark- 
edly larger  shipments  to  North  America  are  cacao  and 
hides.  But  American  flour  imports  into  Brazil  have 
increased  from  a little  over  twenty-four  thousand  tons 
in  1906  to  nearly  sixty  thousand  tons  in  1920,  with 
rises  in  other  articles  equally  pleasant  for  the  northern 
manufacturer — cement  sales,  for  instance,  increased 
from  one  hundred  and  twenty  tons  in  1908  to  over 


INDUSTRIES 


251 


76, OCX)  tons  in  1920;  but  in  1921  Germany,  selling  30% 
below  her  rivals,  captured  this  trade.  Reduction 
of  taxes  on  American  flour  is  actively  opposed  from  two 
points;  the  first  is  the  group  of  flour  mills  operating  in 
the  country,  and  the  second  in  the  sister  republic  of 
Argentina  who  also  has  flour  to  sell. 

The  flour  mills  in  Brazil  of  commercial  importance  are 
eleven  in  number:  the  Moinho  Fluminense  and  the  Rio 
de  Janeiro  Flour  Mills,  in  the  city  of  Rio;  Moinho  Santa 
Cruz,  across  the  bay  in  Nictheroy;  Grandes  Moinhos 
Gambas  and  Moinho  Matarazzo,  in  Sao  Paulo  city; 
Moinho  Santista,  in  Santos;  there  are  three  modern  mills 
in  Rio  Grande  State,  at  Pelotas,  Porto  Alegre,  and  Rio 
Grande  City;  Parana  has  two,  at  Paranagua  and  An- 
tonia.1 

The  great  cereal  of  Brazil  is  that  wonderful  plant  de- 
veloped by  the  aborigines  of  the  Americas,  maize:  it  is 
commonly  known  as  milho  in  Brazil.  Only  recently 
has  the  wild  plant,  mother  of  all  the  different  kinds  of 
maize  in  the  world,  been  identified — a proof  of  the  long 
culture  which  brought  it  to  the  perfection  which  the 
first  European  conquerors  encountered;  yet  such  was 
the  hardihood  of  this  cereal  that  thirty  years  after  the 
Conquest  it  had  spread  all  over  the  warm  parts  of 
Europe  and  was  thriving  in  Africa  and  Asia. 

1 In  1915  Brazil  imported  805,000  barrels  of  American  flour,  56%  of  the 
total  and  605,000  barrels  from  the  Argentine,  or  41%,  the  remaining  4% 
coming  from  Uruguay;  at  the  same  time  she  imported  14,000,000  bushels 
of  wheat,  of  which  nearly  12,000,000  came  from  Argentina  and  about 
2,000,000  from  the  United  States.  This  wheat,  at  five  bushels  to  the 
barrel,  made  another  2,750,000  barrels  of  flour,  and  the  total  Brazilian 
consumption  may  be  reckoned  at  about  4,200,000  barrels  of  wheat-flour  of 
foreign,  plus  407,000  of  native,  origin.  The  c.  i.  f.  price  of  United  States 
flour  in  Brazil  in  1915  averaged  $7.49  a barrel,  while  Argentine  was  able 
to  deliver  hers,  c.  i.  f.,  for  $5.28. 


252 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


It  is,  with  mandioca,  the  great  food  of  all  South  and 
Central  America  and  Mexico,  grows  under  almost  any 
conditions,  apparently,  and  while  the  seed  is  seldom 
carefully  selected,  strongly  marked  varieties  of  prolific 
habit  are  found  in  Brazil,  the  red,  white  and  yellow  all 
yielding  well.  It  is  found  in  patches  outside  every 
little  hut,  and  in  enormous  fields  in  Central  Brazil.  In 
spite  of  the  large  importation  of  wheat  nowadays  to 
satisfy  the  more  luxurious  tastes  of  the  cities,  Brazil 
could  not  live  without  maize. 

Rye  is  grown  by  the  Russians  of  the  southern  colo- 
nies, and  the  south  also  produces  a limited  quantity  of 
oats  and  barley. 


FIBRES 

Among  the  fibres  of  Brazil  which  are  offered  exten- 
sive markets  is  the  wonderful  paina , known  in  Euro- 
pean markets  as  kapok,  which  is  thirty-four  times 
lighter  than  water  and  fourteen  times  lighter  than  cork. 
Produced  chiefly  in  the  Orient,  its  qualities  were  many 
years  ago  appreciated  by  German  manufacturers  who 
were  until  recently  the  largest  purchasers  of  the  fibre, 
using  it  for  life-belts,  mattresses,  etc.  Today  an  un- 
satisfied demand  for  kapok  comes  from  the  Societe 
Industrielle  et  Commerciale  du  Kapok  of  Paris  and 
London,  which  is  said  to  expect  enormous  calls  after 
the  close  of  the  war,  when  rehabilitated  Belgium  and 
northern  France  will  need  pillows,  mattresses,  cover- 
lets, and  quantities  of  other  things  with  the  qualities 
of  lightness,  warmth,  elasticity  and  impermeability 
possessed  by  this  renowned  fibre.  At  present  world 
supplies  come  from  Java  (best  fibre,  cleanest,  best 


INDUSTRIES 


253 


packed),  British  India,  an  inferior  grade,  as  is  also  that 
of  Central  Africa  and  Senegal;  a few  years  ago,  at  the 
suggestion  of  Germans  interested  in  Venezuelan  rail- 
ways, the  kapok  tree  was  introduced  there;  but  when 
the  cotton  was  sent  to  Europe  it  was  rejected  on  ac- 
count of  its  condition  “the  greater  part  of  the  bales 
containing  stones,  refuse,  etc.,  which  sometimes 
amounted  to  thirty  per  cent  of  the  total  weight;  thus, 
in  spite  of  the  fine  quality  of  Venezuelan  kapok,  French 
importers  were  obliged  to  cease  purchases,” — a lesson 
for  careless  exporters. 

Many  parts  of  Brazil  display  this  beautiful  tree. 
When  the  writer  was  first  in  Petropolis,  in  bright  May 
weather,  the  avenues  of  that  mountain  city  were  gay 
with  the  large  bright  pink  flowers  of  this  grey-trunked, 
spreading  exotic.  Later,  when  the  bolls  ripen,  the  fibre 
is  collected,  sold  by  the  kilo  over  many  counters  through- 
out the  country,  and  used  locally  for  stuffing  pillows 
and  cushions. 

The  price  paid  by  France  for  paina  fibre  is  about 
one  hundred  and  forty  to  one  hundred  and  sixty  francs 
per  hundred  kilos  of  good-grade  material:  she  imposes 
no  duties  against  its  entry.  Brazil  has  many  good 
fibres,  but  their  extensive  industrial  use  is  as  yet  limited 
to  aramina,  of  which  coffee  bags  are  made  in  S.  Paulo,  a 
flourishing  industry,  and  the  pita  which  is  used  by  the 
Indians  of  Amazonas  to  make  hammocks.  These  are 
woven  with  great  art,  interspersed  along  the  edges  with 
delicate  feathers  of  gay-coloured  Amazonian  birds. 

Fibre  production  in  a scientific  manner  and  on  a 
commercial  scale  is  only  in  its  infancy  in  Brazil,  but  has 
recently  shown  interesting  development.  There  are 
numbers  of  fine  fibres  native  to  the  country,  yielded 


254 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


not  only  by  a large  number  of  palms,  one  of  which  sup- 
plies the  piassam  exported  for  broom-making,  but  also 
by  many  plants  of  the  aloe  tribe.  Some  of  these  pro- 
duce fibres  equal  in  commercial  value  to  the  famous 
henequen  (sisal)  of  Yucatan,  upon  which  the  rope- 
making industries  of  the  United  States  so  largely  de- 
pend. 

Banana  fibre  is  used  by  the  lace-makers  of  the  north 
for  the  production  of  a curious,  stiff,  shiny  lace  of  fairly 
intricate  workmanship.  The  best  specimens  which  I 
possess  of  this  lace  were  bought  at  Maceio,  but  the 
great  home  of  the  lace-maker  is  Ceara.  She  usually 
works  with  linen  or  cotton  threads,  and  is  to  be  seen  at 
every  cottage  door,  with  her  pillow  bristling  like  those 
of  the  Devonshire  lace-makers,  with  scores  of  pins, 
while  she  throws  the  myriad  bobbins  to  and  fro,  work- 
ing her  pattern  on  the  pins. 

Some  of  the  lace  produced  is  quite  beautiful,  of  ex- 
treme fineness  and  intricacy,  some  of  the  most  prized 
being  the  labyrintho,  with  its  darned-in  pattern  of 
heavier,  silky  thread,  among  the  fine  filaments  of  the 
background.  Lace-making  is  one  of  the  small  indus- 
tries of  Brazil  which  are  little  known,  but  deserve  a 
better  market. 


CACAO 

Cacao  culture  and  preparation  is  the  great  absorbing 
industry  of  southern  Bahia,  where  soil  and  climate, 
particularly  along  a couple  of  river  valleys,  combine  to 
render  the  pretty  little  cacao  tree  fruitful.  Not  even 
coffee  presents  a more  charming  sight  than  a good  cocoa 
plantation  ready  for  harvest,  the  sun  filtering  through 


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255 


the  light  branches,  and  these,  as  well  as  the  trunk 
thickly  clustered  with  the  big  heavy  red  or  yellow  pods, 
looking  something  like  elongated  melons  attached, 
almost  stemless,  to  the  strongest  parts  of  the  tree. 
Methods  in  use  on  many  native  plantations  in  Brazil 
are  fairly  primitive,  and  it  is  the  exception  to  see  the 
elaborate  machinery  for  fermenting,  washing,  and  dry- 
ing such  as  is  common  in  Trinidad;  but  the  cacao 
produced  is  good,  has  a ready  sale  in  a market  which 
never  seems  to  have  too  much  cocoa  and  chocolate, 
and  has  made  remarkably  good  prices  since  the  Euro- 
pean War  began.  Bahia  is  the  great  producing  state, 
but  Maranhao,  Amazonas  and  Para  also  send  contribu- 
tions to  the  export  lists;  the  chief  Bahian  centres  of 
production  are  Ilheos  and  Itabuna,  which  send  two- 
thirds  of  the  crop,  the  rest  coming  from  Cannavieiras 
and  Belmonte  primarily.  The  groves  run  inland  for 
more  than  two  hundred  miles  along  the  river  valleys, 
full  of  the  red  triturated  paste  which  is  the  base  of 
Brazilian  soil. 

The  cacao  year  is  reckoned  from  May  the  first  to 
April  the  thirtieth,  and  there  are  two  gathering  seasons: 
the  sajra  proper  begins  in  September  and  goes  on  until 
April,  while  the  summer  crop,  the  temperac , begins  in 
May  and  has  a less  important  yield.  Practically,  pick- 
ing goes  on  all  the  year. 

Cacao  is  native  to  the  Americas,  but  its  first  cultiva- 
tion and  export  from  Bahia  appears  to  date  no  earlier 
than  about  1834,  when  there  are  records  of  shipments  of 
447  sacks  of  sixty  kilos  each.  In  1840  the  export  was 
nearly  2,000  sacks,  and  in  1850  had  risen  to  more  than 
5,000  sacks.  In  1915  Bahia  shipped  about  750,000 
sacks,  as  a result  of  the  enthusiastic  planting  which 


256  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

has  gone  on  in  this  favourable  region  for  the  last 
twenty  years. 

Until  the  war  broke  out  the  average  price  for  six 
years  for  Brazilian  cacao  was  about  725  reis  a kilo — 
about  seven  cents  a pound.  It  was  at  this  price  that 
Brazil  sold  an  average  of  thirty-two  thousand  tons. 
In  1915  the  price  soared  to  1^248  a kilo,  or  about 
twelve  cents  a pound,  and  Brazil  with  the  biggest  crop 
then  on  record  exported  44,980  tons,  a total  exceeded  in 
each  of  the  following  five  years,  1919  showing  exports 
of  93,000  tons,  at  I $500  per  kilo. 

Cacao  is  a very  good  business,  because  there  is  seldom 
a surplus  in  world  markets;  a demand  exists  for  every 
pound,  and  the  populations  of  great  centres  seem  to 
consume  it  in  increasing  quantities;  it  is  a valuable 
food,  against  which  as  yet  no  analytical  chemist  has 
laid  one  of  the  charges  that  seem  designed  to  warn  us 
from  most  things  that  are  agreeable  to  eat  and  drink. 

Anyone  accustomed  to  warm  climates,  with  a little 
capital  to  invest,  and  able  and  willing  to  wait  three  or 
four  years  for  his  first  returns,  could  do  worse  than  to 
take  up  cacao  planting  in  Brazil. 

Agricultural  methods  in  Brazil  are  in  many  regions 
quite  primitive.  When  wild  land  is  taken  up,  it  is 
denuded  by  the  axe  of  its  big  trees,  and  the  small  scrub 
disposed  of  by  burning  the  land  over.  Frequently  the 
next  process  is  little  more  than  that  of  making  holes  in 
the  ground  with  a stick,  dropping  in  seed,  and  waiting 
for  it  to  come  up:  a fertile  land,  Brazil  gets  her  crops 
with  a minimum  of  trouble.  That  is  all  very  well  for 
the  little  owner  of  a small  property,  but  it  has  already 
given  way  in  more  advanced  districts  to  sound  agri- 


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257 


cultural  methods.  Modern  scientific  agricultural  im- 
plements of  American  and  European  make  are  com- 
monly seen  in  the  centre  and  south,  but  in  the  extreme 
north  and  the  deep  interior  they  are  more  rare.  There 
is  an  excellent  market  for  small,  light  hand  ploughs, 
harrows  and  cultivators,  for  in  some  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, such  as  interior  Rio,  the  land  in  the  bottoms  of 
valleys  is  very  good,  has  been  neglected  because  only 
coffee,  planted  on  the  hill-tops,  has  pre-occupied  the 
small  farmer,  but  there  is  not  sufficient  flat  space  for 
the  use  of  large  motor  or  animal  operated  machinery.  A 
campaign  of  agricultural  instruction  has  been  inaugu- 
rated for  some  years  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture, 
some  good  statistics  and  maps  and  literature  sent  out, 
but  perhaps  less  theory  and  more  practical  instruction 
is  needed.  A recent  writer  in  the  Estado  de  S.  Paulo 
remarked  upon  this,  rather  caustically:  “.  . . instruc- 
tions for  the  culture  of  squashes — plough  the  ground 
with  a plough  with  a disc  of  such  a number,  harrow  it 
with  such  or  such  a harrow,  drill  it  with  such  or  such  a 
drill;  afterwards  fertilize  it  with  so  many  tons  of  phos- 
phate of  lime,  so  many  of  potash,  and  a few  kilos  of 
powdered  gold;  cultivate  it  with  such  a cultivator, 
harvest  the  crop  with  such  and  such  methods,  and 
take  it  to  market  in  a certain  kind  of  motor-truck,  et 
cetera,  this  ‘etcetera’  meaning  that  the  farmer  must 
hand  over  his  farm  to  his  creditors  and  go  to  hunt  a 
job  as  sanitary  inspector.  . . .” 

Other  countries  have  also  suffered  from  a plethora  of 
agricultural  theory,  but  there  is  plenty  of  room  for 
instruction  of  a practical  character  and  several  good 
agricultural  schools  in  Brazil,  notably  that  at  Piracicaba, 
Sao  Paulo,  are  leading  the  way. 


258  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


BRAZILIAN  FRUITS 

There  are  many  fine  fruits  in  Brazil,  unrecognized 
abroad,  which  may  some  day,  with  refrigerating  spaces 
in  outgoing  vessels  multiplied,  find  a way  to  interna- 
tional tables;  there  is  already  a pineapple  export  to 
Europe,  arriving  in  time  for  Christmas,  and  Brazil’s 
sweet  bananas  are  shipped  to  the  Plate.  But  who 
realizes  that  Brazil  is  the  native  home  of  the  finest 
oranges  in  the  world?  Bahia  is  the  place  of  origin  of 
the  seedless  orange;  slips  of  this  tree,  taken  to  Cali- 
fornia, have  created  a tremendous  daughter  industry 
whose  products  are  spread  far  and  wide  by  steamer  and 
train;  there  is  no  export  from  Brazil,  the  Bahian  orange, 
which  is  greatly  superior  in  size  and  flavour  to  the  Cali- 
fornian, hardly  creeping  down  the  coast  to  the  markets 
of  Rio  and  Sao  Paulo.  There  is  room  for  a huge  in- 
dustry in  growing  and  shipping  in  this  direction,  and 
some  of  the  planters  of  California,  trembling  of  nights 
when  the  frosts  come  and  smudges  have  to  be  burnt — 
sometimes  in  vain,  would  do  well  to  transfer  their  skill 
and  energy  to  a land  where  frosts  are  unknown,  land 
is  cheap,  and  the  best  oranges  known  are  produced 
without  any  great  care  or  science. 


MINING 

Brazil  was  for  more  than  a hundred  years  after  the 
discovery  of  placer  deposits  in  the  interior  the  source  of 
important  gold  exports;  altogether  she  is  estimated  to 
have  yielded  gold  worth  more  than  a hundred  million 
pounds  sterling,  but  her  fame  diminished  with  the 
exhaustion  of  the  gold-bearing  river  sands.  It  was  easy 


INDUSTRIES 


259 


enough  to  wash  out  gold  grains  with  the  bateia , but  when 
it  became  necessary  to  seek  mother  lodes  and  to  use 
machinery,  native  capital  and  technical  skill  were  lack- 
ing. Two  gold-mining  companies  are  working  today  in 
Brazil,  both  British  owned  and  operated,  and  both  in 
the  State  of  Minas  Geraes.  One,  at  Morro  Velho,  prop- 
erty of  the  S.  Joao  del  Rey  Mining  Company,  is  worked 
at  a depth  of  a mile  and  a quarter,  pays  dividends 
regularly,  and  is  a standing  tribute  to  British  energy 
and  skill:  it  is  a magnificent  social  organization  as  well 
as  an  engineering  triumph. 

The  second  company  of  importance  using  modern 
equipment  is  that  of  Passagem,  close  to  the  old  capital 
of  Minas  Geraes,  Ouro  Preto;  it  is  excellently  operated, 
but  has  not  had  equal  good  fortune  with  the  Morro 
Velho  mine.  In  1916  Brazil’s  gold  exports,  in  bars, 
weighed  4,564,523  grams,  were  worth  about  £480,000, 
and  went  entirely  to  England,  but  Brazil  subsequently 
forbade  gold  exports,  and  now  takes  overall  the  product. 

A certain  amount  of  Brazilian  gold  is  absorbed  in- 
ternally every  year  by  the  excellent  native  goldsmiths, 
for  the  fabrication  of  special  jewellery  objects,  but  no 
estimate  of  the  value  is  obtainable. 

Until  diamonds  were  found  in  South  Africa  Brazil  was 
the  cradle  of  the  most  important  diamonds  put  on 
foreign  markets;  the  stones  are  still  sought  by  native 
garimpeiros,  mostly,  in  the  interior  of  Minas  and  Bahia, 
and  from  the  grutas  of  the  latter  State  are  obtained  the 
finest  white  diamonds  known.  But  they  have  prac- 
tically disappeared  from  export  lists  together  with  the 
black  carbonados , even  more  valuable,  for  a reason  com- 
mented upon  by  the  Diario  Official  of  Bahia,  discussing 
1915  trade:  “If  diamonds  and  carbonados  have  been. 


260 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


since  the  war,  sent  to  Europe  or  North  America,  their  ex- 
portation, which  is  for  the  most  part  unknown,  has  been 
realized  by  the  habitual  processes  of  smuggling.”  Brazil 
is  the  main  source  of  these  “carbonados,”  black  dia- 
monds of  great  hardness  and  therefore  value,  used  in- 
dustrially. 

The  precious  stones  openly  shipped  from  all  Brazil 
during  1915  were  worth  only  about  one  hundred  and 
seventy-six  contos  of  reis  (say  forty-four  thousand  dol- 
lars), of  which  about  fifty-five  per  cent  went  to  the 
United  States  and  the  rest  to  France.  During  1916  the 
export  of  precious  and  semi-precious  Brazilian  stones  to 
North  America  has  been  greatly  stimulated  by  the 
access  of  luxury-purchasing  which  has  coincided  with 
the  accumulation  of  war  profits,  and  out  of  American 
purchases  of  jewels  from  abroad  at  the  rate  of  a million 
dollars  a week  Brazil  has  her  share.  The  stones  of 
Brazil  have  long  been  appreciated  in  Europe — I am 
thinking  of  a certain  shop  in  the  Rue  de  la  Paix  in  Paris 
and  another  at  the  top  of  Regent  Street  in  London — 
and  deserve  to  be  better  known  in  North  America;  the 
diamonds  are  beautiful,  and  their  distribution  among 
not  only  the  wealthy  but  the  “middle”  classes  in  Brazil 
is  so  usual,  the  possession  of  good  diamonds  is  so 
universally  considered  the  right  of  every  woman,  that  a 
gala  night  at  the  theatre  in  Sao  Paulo  or  Rio  is  a display 
of  brilliant  stones  which  would  put,  for  choice  jewels, 
many  capitals  of  the  world  to  shame. 

The  lovely  sea-blue  agua-marinhas,  with  exquisite 
transparency  and  lustre,  the  soft  green  tourmalinas,  the 
pink  and  golden  topazes  and  purple  amethysts  are  all 
found  in  great  quantities  in  the  Brazilian  interior:  many 
are  native  cut,  and  the  wheel  of  the  lapidary  using 


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261 


beautiful  coloured  stones  may  be  seen  at  work  in  Bello 
Horizonte,  Rio,  Bahia,  and  Sao  Paulo. 

If  half  that  geologists  have  said  of  Brazil  is  true,  this 
'country  is  destined  to  become  one  of  the  greatest  min- 
ing regions  of  the  Americas;  it  has  an  extraordinary 
variety  of  minerals,  but  their  location  in  the  interior 
where  little  transportation  exists,  added  to  the  re- 
straining influences  of  archaic  mining  laws,  has  checked 
enterprise.  Before  the  European  War  began  plans  were 
well  under  way  for  development  of  important  iron  mines 
in  Minas  Geraes  by  an  English  company,  but  work  is  in 
abeyance  at  present.  There  has  been,  however,  a 
marked  increase  in  exports  of  high-grade  manganese, 
chiefly  from  Minas,  chiefly  shipped  away  in  the  newly 
operating  line  of  freight  steamers  owned  by  the  United 
States  Steel  Corporation,  which  bring  manufactured 
products  to  Brazil.  Out  of  the  total  of  more  than 
three  hundred  thousand  tons  of  this  ore  exported  from 
Brazil  in  1915,  over  two  hundred  and  sixty-six  thousand 
tons  were  sent  to  the  United  States,  the  price  paid  being 
over  two  and  a half  million  dollars;  Great  Britain  also 
took  ten  thousand  tons,  but  Germany  and  Belgium,  for- 
mer customers  for  this  ore,  were  eliminated  from  the  lists. 

During  1916  production,  mainly  from  Minas  deposits, 
rose  to  over  five  hundred  thousand  tons,  again  increas- 
ing to  five  hundred  and  thirty-three  thousand  tons  in 
1917;  after  this  time  depression  was  experienced,  due  in 
great  measure  to  lessened  demands  from  the  United 
States  using  home-produced  low-grade  ores  for  steel 
hardening.  Post-war  prospects  of  development  of  the 
great  Itabira  iron  deposits  suggest  iron  and  steel  indus- 
tries within  Brazil. 


262 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


Large  manganese  deposits  also  occur  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Nazareth,  on  the  mainland  side  of  the  Bahia 
deTodosos  Santos  (Bahia  State),  situated  conveniently 
for  shipment;  its  export  was  reduced  to  practically 
nothing  from  this  point  during  1914  and  1915,  prob- 
ably for  the  same  reason  that  shipments  of  another 
famous  Brazilian  mineral,  monazite  sand,  vanished 
about  the  same  time  from  Bahian  lists.  This  reason  was 
the  imposition  of  strangulating  export  taxes,  amounting 
to  about  twenty-two  per  cent  of  the  value  of  the  mineral. 
Manganese  deposits  are  known  to  exist,  in  addition  to 
the  beds  in  Bahia  and  Minas,  in  Matto  Grosso,  Santa 
Catharina,  Parana  and  Amazonas;  the  total  quantity 
available  is  estimated  at  one  hundred  million  tons. 

Monazite  sands  lie  all  along  the  southerly  shores  of 
Bahia,  extending  into  Espirito  Santo;  their  peculiar 
glow  and  lustre  was  first  noticed  by  an  Englishman, 
John  Gordon,  who  had  samples  examined  and  found 
that  they  contained  thorium,  used  in  making  incandes- 
cent gas  mantles;  he  was  in  the  shipping  business  in 
Brazil,  and  had  no  difficulty  in  thenceforth  sending 
large  quantities  of  the  precious  sands  abroad,  as  ballast; 
the  story  goes  that  only  by  an  accident  was  the  fact 
revealed  to  the  authorities  that  the  sands  were  valuable 
above  the  ballast  of  most  vessels,  after  some  years. 
Duties  were  put  on,  and  eventually  exports  slumped. 
The  largest  amount  officially  sent  abroad  in  one  year 
was  2,114  t°ns,  1908,  with  a value  of  609  contos  of  reis. 
In  1915  only  439  tons  were  exported,  all  to  the  United 
States. 

These  three  meagre  items,  precious  stones,  manganese 
and  monazite  sands,  complete  the  1915  official  mining 
exports  of  a great  mineral  country.  Probably  increases 


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263 


will  be  shown  for  the  year  1916,  for,  in  addition  to 
manganese  increases,  there  has  been  great  stimulation  of 
coal  mining  in  the  States  of  Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  Santa 
Catharina  and  Parana.  More  than  one  Brazilian  rail- 
way, exasperated  at  the  prices  demanded  for  foreign 
coal,  has  been  using  native  coal  and  helping  in  its  pro- 
duction, and  during  the  latter  part  of  1916  experimental 
shipments  were  made  to  the  Argentine.  Results  are 
said  to  be  good,  but  a little  caution  must  be  used  before 
serious  claims  are  made  concerning  the  existence  of 
very  extensive  deposits  of  fine  hard  steam  coal.  In  any 
case  the  production  of  useful  coal  is  a blessing  to  the 
east  coast  of  South  America,  devoid  as  this  region  has 
been  up  to  the  present  of  any  source  of  reliable  carvao  de 
fedra;  every  ton  has  been  imported,  chiefly  from  Wales 
but  latterly  from  North  America.  Chile,  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Andes,  has  been  mining  coal  for  years,  but 
the  quality  is  not  satisfactory  for  all  purposes,  and  sup- 
plies have  been  supplemented  from  Australia  in  normal 
times. 

Brazil  has,  it  is  known,  important  deposits  of  nickel, 
copper,  lead,  mica,  platinum,  wolfram,  and  many  other 
minerals,  but  there  has  been  no  real  attempt  at  opera- 
tions, and  until  prospecting  is  systematically  under- 
taken and  money  put  into  good  equipment,  Brazil  can- 
not take  her  place  as  a great  mineral  producing  country. 
She  has  the  minerals,  but  she  needs  roads  to  get  them 
out,  and  favourable  laws  to  encourage  mining  develop- 
ment, as  well  as  abolition  of  strangulating  taxes.  With 
intelligent  assistance,  Brazil’s  manganese  should  be 
able  at  the  close  of  the  European  War  to  compete  with 
that  of  Russia,  and  her  monazite  with  that  of  Tra- 
vancore  (India),  aside  from  the  other  rich  deposits. 


264  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


. BRAZILIAN  MANUFACTURES 

There  is  much  controversy  in  Brazil  on  the  subject 
of  national  manufactures.  I have  heard  extremists 
declare  roundly  that  Brazil  ought  not  to  manufacture 
anything  at  all,  because  each  mill-hand  is  one  more 
person  taken  away  from  the  fields  to  which  all  Brazilian 
attention  should  be  given. 

“Brazil  is  an  agricultural  country,”  a cotton  planter 
said  to  the  writer.  “She  cannot  legitimately  compete 
with  the  manufactured  products  of  great  industrial 
countries  because  the  price  of  living  is  too  high  here. 
To  obtain  large  revenues  from  the  import  taxes  which 
are  the  Federal  Government’s  source  of  support  we 
have  heavy  duties  against  large  classes  of  goods  enter- 
ing the  country;  the  barrier  has  been  so  high  that  it 
has  been  worth  while  for  factories  to  be  started  here, 
sometimes  making  things  from  material  produced  in 
the  country,  which  is  not  bad  policy  when  we  have 
enough  labour,  but  often  making  goods  every  separate 
item  of  which  is  imported,  an  absurdity.” 

He  went  on  to  say  that  there  is  a considerable  manu- 
facture of  matches  in  Brazil,  but  that  the  igniting  chem- 
icals, the  little  sticks,  and  the  boxes  were  all  imported; 
nothing  was  done  but  the  mere  putting  together.  “It 
is  only  remunerative  because  the  tax  on  imported 
matches  is  so  high,  and  in  many  districts  owing  to  want 
of  communication  the  match  factory  has  a monopoly 
of  local  trade — a purely  artificial  condition.”  This 
fazendeiro  was  equally  opposed  to  the  silk  and  velvet 
factories  of  Petropolis,  declaring  that  “every  item,  raw 
silk,  colours,  machinery,  even  the  skilled  weavers,  are 
imported”  and  that  until  Brazil  produces  national 


Coffee-loading  equipment  at  the  port  of  Santos,  State  of  Sao  Paulo. 
Sugar  lands  in  Pernambuco. 


INDUSTRIES  265 

silk — a beginning  has  been  made — she  should  not  have 
silk  factories. 

This  view  was  that  of  the  agriculturist  who  sees  a 
menace  to  labour  supplies  in  the  growing  manufactures 
of  Brazil:  I give  it  for  what  it  is  worth,  as  an  interesting 
view  point  with  force  in  some  of  the  argument.  But 
there  are  industries  in  Brazil  which  the  agriculturist 
will  admit  to  be  legitimate  in  themselves  and  helpful 
to  himself  in  that  they  tend  to  raise  prices  for  his  raw 
products.  Of  this  class  the  most  shining  example  is 
the  list  of  cotton-mills.  They  are  already  so  active 
that  the  national  supply  of  raw  cotton  is  not  sufficient 
for  their  needs,  demand  being  so  acute  in  1919  that 
the  price  in  Brazil  rose  to  forty  cents  a pound.  The 
output  is  sold  in  Brazil,  supplying  over  eighty  per  cent 
of  the  fabrics  used,  with  a surplus  for  export  since 
1918. 

It  is  not  generally  recognized  to  what  extent  Bra- 
zilian manufactures  have  developed.  The  great  in- 
dustrial region  is  Rio  de  Janeiro.  Her  industrial  ad- 
vance has  been  made  possible  in  this  direction,  as  in 
agriculture,  by  the  influx  of  sturdy  Italians,  Portuguese 
and  Spanish  workers. 

At  the  same  time  the  manufacturing  section  is  not 
confined  to  S.  Paulo;  it  is  notably  active  in  Minas 
and  Rio,  especially  where  electric  power  derived  from 
waterfalls  is  employed,  and  in  Bahia  and  Pernam- 
buco where  tobacco  and  sugar  create  legitimate  home 
industries,  and  where  there  is  a sufficiency  of  native 
and  negro  labour,  the  latter  an  inheritance  from 
slavery  days. 

The  total  value  of  the  products  of  Brazilian  fac- 


2 66  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


tories  is  about  2,000,000  contos  of  reis,  equal  at  twelve 
pence  exchange  to  £100,000,000  or  in  U.  S.  currency, 
$500,000,000  mats  ou  menos.  This  is  a larger  sum  than 
the  value  of  Brazil’s  exported  agricultural  and  forestal 
products,  which  was  about  1,811,000  contos  in  1919, 
and  1,464,000  contos  in  1920. 

This  calculation,  however,  is  not  quite  fair  because 
it  does  not  take  into  consideration  the  agricultural 
produce  consumed  in  the  country;  there  are  no  figures 
available  on  this  subject. 

In  a review  of  commerce  published  in  May,  1916,  the 
Jornal  do  Commercio  said  that  out  of  the  ninety-four 
classes  of  Brazilian  manufacture,  eighty  were  free  from 
internal  taxes  (the  “imposto  do  consumo”)  while 
fourteen  were  subject  to  tax,  as  well  as  to  foreign  com- 
petition. 

It  was  demonstrated  that  in  these  fourteen  classes 
Brazilian  manufactures  fell  below  fifty  per  cent  of 
the  total  consumption  in  only  one  instance,  that  of 
pharmaceutical  specialties.  The  most  important  items 
are  these,  in  round  numbers: 


Brasilian  made  Imported 


Woven  fabrics  (chiefly  cotton,  but 

some  silk  and  wool) 450,000  contos.  .47,300  contos.  .82 

Beverages  (mineral  waters,  beer,  wine, 

spirits) 101,300  contos.  . 47,640  contos.  . 68 

Footwear  (leather  shoes  and  boots,  and 

alpagartas ) 150,225  contos.  . 2,425  contos.  .97 

Prepared  tobacco,  cigarettes  and 

cigars 39,000  contos.  . 1,565  contos.  .96 

Hats 29,000  contos.  . 3,800  contos.  .86 

Matches 18,000  contos.  . 4 contos.  .99.9 

Conserves 13,300  contos.  . 9,800  contos.  . 58 

Pharmaceutical  specialties 11,700  contos.  . 15,780  contos.  .43 


INDUSTRIES 


267 


In  1921  the  number  of  home-made  goods  paying 
imposts  rose  to  21,  and  the  value  to  well  over  one  mil- 
lion contos,  and  includes,  besides  those  detailed  above, 
vinegar,  walking  sticks,  salt,  candles,  perfumeries 
(of  which  Brazil  makes  sixty  per  cent  of  the  consump- 
tion) and  playing-cards. 

Among  the  large  class  of  manufactures  free  from 
internal  taxes  are  the  important  items  of  cotton  thread, 
jute  products  (rope,  cord  and  coffee  bags)  the  products 
of  ironworks,  potteries,  furniture  factories;  goldsmiths 
and  jewel-workers,  soap  makers,  paper  and  paper-bag 
factories,  biscuit  and  bottle,  shirt,  mirror,  trunk,  ink, 
pipe,  pin,  and  window-glass  makers;  but  all  of  these 
pay  a contribution  to  their  State  or  municipality  or 
both,  appearing  in  revenue  lists  under  “ Industrial  e 
Profissoes .” 

In  the  city  of  Sao  Paulo  this  tax  upon  industries 
and  professions,  the  latter  list  embracing  bankers, 
lawyers,  barbers,  shoe-shiners,  hotel-keepers,  doctors, 
newspaper  sellers  and  so  on  with  true  democratic  im- 
partiality, brings  in  over  forty  per  cent  of  the  municipal 
income;  it  is  now  worth  some  three  thousand  five  hun- 
dred contos  a year,  or  let  us  say  nine  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars,  the  cotton  factories  paying  the  biggest 
item,  twelve  thousand  dollars,  while  shoe  factories, 
jute  mills,  potteries,  jewellers,  furniture  makers  and 
metal  works  each  pay  about  eight  thousand  dollars. 

It  is  plain  that  manufacturers  do  not  have  things  all 
their  own  way  in  Brazil,  and  must  be  prepared  for 
fairly  heavy  taxes,  but  one  does  not  hear  the  same 
complaints  about  petty  taxation  for  every  trifle  as  in 
the  Argentine;  on  the  other  hand,  the  mill  owner  has 
not  to  face  cut-throat  competition  as  in  older  manu- 


268 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


facturing  countries,  is  able  to  get  an  excellent  price  for 
his  products,  is  able  to  buy  land  at  inexpensive  rates 
and  to  obtain  comparatively  cheap  labour.  As  soon  as 
a district  becomes  thickly  sown  with  factory  chimneys 
prices  of  land  and  labour  automatically  rise,  of  course; 
this  natural  law  has  operated  already  in  the  now  densely 
populated  and  built  over  suburbs  of  Sao  Paulo,  Braz 
and  Mooca,  and  is,  under  one’s  eyes,  transforming  the 
windy  upland  flats  of  Ypiranga.  A year  or  two  ago 
much  of  this  area  was  red  clay  swamp,  with  a cottage 
here  and  there  and  a few  Italian  market  gardens  pro- 
ducing vegetables  for  the  city  dwellers,  and  land  could 
have  been  bought  for  ten  milreis  an  acre  or  less;  today 
it  is  worth  from  two  hundred  to  five  hundred  milreis; 
the  wet  lands  have  been  filled  in,  an  enormous  under- 
taking, rows  of  workmen’s  houses  extend  for  miles  to 
the  crest  of  the  hill  where  the  Monument  stands  com- 
memorating the  Grito  da  Independence,  and  from  its 
summit  one  has  a view  that  is  mottled  with  factory 
smoke  and  punctuated  with  tall  chimneys.  To  see 
this  and  to  watch  the  crowds  of  pretty  chattering 
Italian  girls  pouring  out  of  Braz  and  Mooca  factories 
at  noon  or  evening  is  to  obtain  a revelation  of  the 
newer  South  America.  It  is  no  longer  a land  of  sugar 
and  brazil-wood  only  and  although  the  agriculturist 
may  shake  his  head  over  the  lack  of  hands  on  the  farm, 
manufacture  in  Brazil  is  a live,  energetic  phase  of  her 
modern  development.  Sao  Paulo  City  was  employing, 
by  the  end  of  1921,  over  twenty-five  thousand  horse- 
power of  electrical  energy  in  her  factories. 

The  fabric-weaving  factories  in  all  Brazil,  including 
cloths  of  cotton,  jute,  linen,  silk  and  wool,  were  303  in 


INDUSTRIES 


269 

number  in  1914,  employing  75,000  workpeople  and 
capital  totalling  over  368,000  contos  of  reis;  in  1920 
they  had  increased  to  328  including  242  cotton  mills 
which  alone  employed  109,000  hands.  The  premier  pro- 
ducer of  cotton  cloth  in  1920,  in  values,  was  Rio  de 
Janeiro  (Federal  District)  with  an  output  worth  102,000 
contos;  next  came  S.  Paulo  State,  92,000  contos;  then 
Minas  Geraes,  91,000;  Rio  de  Janeiro  State,  46,000; 
Bahia,  32,000;  Pernambuco,  21,000;  Alagoas,  16,000; 
Sergipe,  12,000;  Maranhao,  11,000;  Rio  Grande  do  Sul, 
9,000;  Ceara,  3,000;  and  Piauhy,  Rio  Grande  do  Norte, 
Parana,  Parahyba  and  Espirito  Santo,  about  1,200  con- 
tos each.  The  States  absent  from  cloth  manufacturing 
returns  are  the  great  forestal  territories  of  the  extreme 
north,  and  those  of  the  vast  interior  uplands,  where  con- 
ditions are  not  greatly  changed  from  the  time  prior  to 
the  Portuguese  discovery  so  far  as  development  is 
concerned. 

In  numbers  of  mills  Sao  Paulo  again  comes  first  with 
seventy-eight  mills  making  cloths:  fifty-five  of  these 
weave  cotton  alone,  leaving  a higher  proportion  of  fab- 
rics made  from  other  materials  than  in  sister  States;  gen- 
erally speaking  cotton  cloths  occupy  the  greatest  share 
of  capital  and  labour,  as  for  example  in  Minas,  where 
sixty  fabricas  de  tecidos  operate,  and  out  of  the  total 
value  of  the  production,  23,500  contos,  cotton  accounts 
for  over  22,600  contos.  With  a larger  number  of 
cotton-cloth  mills  at  work  than  S.  Paulo,  but  with  pro- 
duction worth  not  much  more  than  one-fourth,  it  is  clear 
that  factories  are  very  much  smaller  in  the  interior 
State;  nevertheless,  she  is  able  to  pride  herself  upon  a 
thriving  industry,  occupying  nearly  nine  thousand 
people,  twenty-five  thousand  contos  of  capital,  and  using 


270  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


ten  thousand  tons  of  raw  cotton.  In  common  with  the 
other  weaver  States  of  the  Brazilian  Union,  Minas  ships 
her  cloths  to  less  industrially  developed  regions:  in  this 
connection  some  light  is  shed  upon  the  ramifications  of 
finance  cum  industry  by  the  President  of  the  Sociedade 
Mineira  da  Agricultura  (Minas  Society  of  Agriculture), 
Dr.  Daniel  de  Carvalho,  in  an  address  at  the  Cotton 
Conference  held  in  Rio  in  June,  1916.  Stating  that  the 
Minas  export  of  cotton  cloth  (to  other  States)  was 
nearly  28,000,000  metres  in  1915,  he  showed  that, 
at  an  average  price  of  four  hundred  reis  (eight  cents) 
a metre,  the  total  value  was  more  than  eleven  thousand 
contos:  but  in  the  official  statistics  the  value  of  ex- 
ported cotton  cloth  appeared  as  only  3,893  contos. 
“This  anomaly  is  an  example  of  the  regimen  of  fiction 
in  which  we  live,  from  the  taxation  point  of  view.  The 
Minas  legislator  votes  for  high  and  sometimes  excessive 
taxes, — and  the  Government  in  a fatherly  manner  cor- 
rects the  excess  in  calculations  of  ad  valorem  per- 
centages, accepting  a benign  interpretation  of  mer- 
chandise values.  Instead  of  products  appearing  with 
exaggerated  values  we  find  on  the  contrary  that  most 
estimates  are  well  below  the  real  amount,  as  in  the  case 
of  manganese.  ...”  The  cure  for  this  deliberate 
lessening  of  values,  which  certainly  does  Brazil  poor 
service,  would  be,  said  Dr.  Carvalho,  an  all-round 
diminution  of  tribute,  together  with  a rigorous  applica- 
tion of  the  law. 

In  the  Federal  District  the  number  of  weaving  mills  is 
thirty-five,  several  clustering  in  the  mountain  valleys  of 
Petropolis  and  deriving  power  from  waterfalls;  the 
State  of  Rio  has  twenty-seven;  Santo  Catharina,  fifteen; 
Bahia  and  Maranhao  have  thirteen  each;  Rio  Grande 


INDUSTRIES 


271 


do  Sul,  twelve;  Ceara  and  Alagoas,  ten  each;  Pernam- 
buco, nine;  Parana  and  Sergipe,  eight  each;  Espirito 
Santo,  three;  Rio  Grande  do  Norte,  Piauhy  and  Para- 
hyba,  one  each. 

The  largest  employer  of  labour  in  weaving  mills  is  S. 
Paulo,  with  (1920)  over  thirty  thousand  hands;  the 
next  is  the  Federal  District  with  about  twelve  thou- 
sand; third  comes  Minas  with  over  eight  thousand. 
Sao  Paulo  is  also  the  greatest  consumer  of  raw  cotton, 
using  thirteen  thousand  tons;  the  Federal  District  uses 
eleven  thousand  tons  and  the  State  of  Rio  nearly  six 
thousand  tons,  Minas  using,  as  we  saw  above,  about 
five  thousand. 

At  the  end  of  1915  when,  in  spite  of  great  demands 
upon  the  national  mills  consequent  upon  checked  im- 
portations of  cotton  cloth  several  had  to  reduce  their 
staff  on  account  of  shortage  of  raw  cotton,  the  Centro 
Industrial  addressed  a letter  to  the  President  of  the 
Republic  in  which  the  plight  of  the  manufacturers  was 
displayed.  A cotton  famine  in  the  North  had  reduced 
the  national  supply,  and  raised  the  price  beyond  prece- 
dent, while  importations  are  always  minute  in  Brazil 
owing  to  the  heavy  duty  of  about  six  cents  per  pound 
against  it.  The  signatories  of  the  letter  explain  that  the 
cotton  cloth  industry  never  calls  for  less  than  forty-five 
thousand  tons  1 of  raw  cotton  produced  on  national 
soil,  and  that  this  amount  was  made  up  in  1913  into 
cloth  worth  over  162,000  contos;  that,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  aniline  dyes,  which  cost  about  2,000  contos  a 
year,  no  other  prime  material  enters  into  the  Brazilian 
cotton  industry. 

1 Dr.  Costa  Pinto  reckons  over  58,500  tons;  he  counts  49,648  looms  and 
1,464,218  spindles,  each  spindle  taking  40  kilos  of  cotton  annually. 


272 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


“The  time  is  long  past  when  cotton  yarns  were  im- 
ported on  a great  scale  for  weaving.  Now,  our  nu- 
merous factories  have  created  in  their  vast  and  modern 
mills  a perfect  industrial  cycle  from  spinning  to  print- 
ing,” so  that  the  present  import  of  yarns  is  worth  only 
i, 800  contos,  and  the  value  of  cotton  cloths  brought 
from  abroad  less  than  17,000  contos  (1914  figures). 

At  the  same  time  Brazil’s  export  of  raw  cotton  from 
the  Northern  States  of  fine  long  staple,  usually  prac- 
tically all  sent  to  England,  diminished  until  returns  for 
1915  show  only  5,223  tons  against  over  37,000  tons  in 
1913  and  30,000  in  1914,  but  this  restriction  did  not 
make  up  the  shortage  following  the  drought.  The 
Centro  Industrial  asked  for  a governmental  enquiry 
into  cotton  conditions;  in  the  middle  of  1916  the  Con- 
ference was  held  in  Rio,  samples  of  cotton,  etc.,  dis- 
played, and,  after  a collection  of  facts  by  a questionnaire 
sent  to  all  weaving  mills,  expositions  of  the  highest 
interest  were  made  by  officials  of  the  government, 
technical  experts,  and  cotton  growers.  Reference  is 
made  to  this  valuable  conference  under  “Cotton,”  but 
the  manufacturing  notes  of  these  pages  may  include  the 
name  of  Miguel  Calmon,  Chemical  Director  of  the 
Companhia  Industrial  do  Brasil,  popularly  known  as 
the  “ Bangu  ” factory,  who  gave  an  address  on  the  use  of 
native  vegetable  dyes;  optimistic  as  regards  tints  drawn 
from  Brazilian  forests,  Senhor  Calmon  spoke  with 
appreciation  of  the  “urucu,”  a dye  producing  hues 
ranging  from  yellow  to  deep  red,  as  well  as  many  other 
better  known  colouring  matters.  There  is  already  a 
very  busy  dye  factory  in  Minas,  the  Fabric  a de  Tinta 
Machado , using  native  vegetable  bases,  and  much  is  ex- 
pected in  S.  Paulo  from  dyes  made  by  the  use  of  “In- 


INDUSTRIES 


273 


glotina,”  obtained  from  mangrove  leaves:  a factory  has 
recently  been  established  at  Cubatao. 

It  was  at  the  same  conference  that  Dr.  Costa  Pinto 
gave  details  of  the  threads  spun  in  Brazil;  counting  in 
English  measurement,  Brazilian  mills  spin  from  No.  2 
to  No.  100  thread.  From  No.  30  upward  a long  staple 
cotton  is  needed,  and  only  a small  proportion  of  native- 
grown  fibres  are  suitable,  although  there  is  plenty  of 
short  fibre  for  the  coarser  weaves. 

Brazilian  manufacturing  already  depends  considera- 
bly upon  the  water  power  accessible,  especially  in  Sao 
Paulo,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  and  Minas.  There  is  enough 
hydraulic  force  available  in  Brazil  to  turn  the  wheels  of 
the  world  but  the  majority  of  these  wonderful  cascades 
are  scarcely  known  by  name,  and  many  were  not 
charted  in  the  interior  of  Matto  Grosso  and  Amazonas 
until  the  work  of  the  Rondon  Commission  opened  great 
tracts  of  those  unknown  lands.  It  is  not  possible  here 
to  do  more  than  mention  one  or  two  of  the  most  im- 
portant falls.  The  Maribondo,  in  the  Triangulo 
Mineiro,  has  an  estimated  force  of  six  hundred  thousand 
horse  power;  Urubupunga,  on  the  Parana  river,  has 
some  450,000  horse  power;  Iguassu  has  14,000,000, 
four  times  as  much  as  Niagara;  and  the  force  of  the 
Sete  Quedas,  or  Guayra  Falls,  on  the  Parana  near  the 
Paraguay  boundary,  is  calculated  at  80,000,000  horse 
power.  The  Light  and  Power  companies  of  Rio,  Sao 
Paulo,  Campinas,  Petropolis,  and  other  cities  obtain 
their  force  from  falls,  hundreds  of  little  townships  in  the 
central  interior  sparkle  with  electric  lights,  run  factories 
and  public  utilities  as  a result  of  a nearby  source  of 
water  power. 


274 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


Allusion  has  before  been  made  to  the  variety  of  Bra- 
zilian soils  and  climates  which  result  in  her  possession  of 
several  important  and  utterly  diverse  industries;  the 
list  is  so  long  that  many  interesting  embryo  industries, 
or  others  of  local  or  internal  importance  only,  can  only 
claim  space  for  passing  mention.  Among  these  is  the 
wine-making  industry  of  the  far  south,  where  European 
colonists  cultivate  grapes  and  have  created  quite  a 
notable  business  in  the  production  of  fairly  light  red 
wines.  These  are  shipped  to  many  other  parts  of  the 
country,  are  sold  inexpensively  in  Rio  and  other  cities, 
and  while  they  lack  the  mellow  tone  of  imported  wines, 
they  are  sound,  good,  and  popular. 

Salt  extraction  in  Rio  Grande  do  Norte  is  another 
busy  industry,  and  here  is  the  chief  source  of  Brazil’s 
native  salt;  it  is  exported  from  the  ports  of  Macau  and 
Mossoro.  Also  in  the  north  are  the  famous  lace-makers, 
whose  yards  of  fine  rendas,  made  on  a pillow  with  scores 
of  bobbins,  would  not  disgrace  Malta;  the  big,  thickly 
woven  white  hammocks  of  Ceara  are  justly  prized  ail 
over  Brazil,  and  both  lace  and  hammocks  should  form 
the  base  of  an  export  business.  In  Maranhao,  where  the 
babassu  palm  grows  luxuriantly,  a local  industry  ex- 
tracts the  fine  oil  from  the  kernel  hidden  in  a stony  shell, 
and  experimental  exports  have  occurred  during  the 
past  year;  the  babassu  is  but  one  of  the  valuable  nuts  of 
the  Brazilian  north.  One,  the  “Brazil  nut”1  of  com- 
merce, has  of  course  been  exported  from  the  Amazon  for 
nearly  a century,  and  is  a considerable  revenue  yielder  to 
Para  and  Amazonas  states,  but  the  sapucaia,  of  the  same 
family  but  larger  and  sweeter,  is  rarer,  less  known,  and 
fetches  much  higher  prices  in  sophisticated  world  markets. 

1 Bcrtholettia  excelsa. 


INDUSTRIES 


275 


In  Parahyba  State  there  is  at  least  one  considerable 
coconut  oil  extracting  factory,  on  a sandy  spit  south  of 
Parahyba  city;  several  thousand  people  are  said  to  be 
employed  in  this  industry  and  the  product  is  shipped  as 
far  south  as  Rio:  in  spite  of  the  immense  quantity  of 
coconuts  on  the  littoral  of  the  northern  promontory 
there  is  no  copra  or  fibre  industry  yet  established,  ap- 
parently because  the  native  consumption  of  the  nut 
leaves  little  surplus  for  the  one,  and  interest  is  lacking 
in  the  other. 


CHAPTER  VI 


FINANCE 

Brazilian  Currency 

In  common  with  other  young  countries  whose  gold 
reserves  are  insufficient  to  back  the  paper  currency 
used  to  carry  on  the  ordinary  business  of  life  within 
her  borders,  Brazil  has  been  and  still  is  faced  with 
difficulties  in  regard  to  exchange,  i.  e.,  the  gold  value 
of  her  paper  and  its  relation  to  the  face  value  of  that 
paper.  Exchange  in  Brazil  is  the  measure  of  the  paper 
milreis  (one  thousand  reis)  with  English  money:  this 
standard  is  the  official  one  as  a result  of  the  preponder- 
ance of  English  finance. 

The  par  value  of  the  Brazilian  milreis  is  twenty- 
seven  pence  (fifty-four  cents),  but  at  the  end  of  1916 
it  was  worth  12  pence,  rose  to  18  in  early  1920,  and  later 
sank  below  8 pence.  In  1889  the  milreis  was  actu- 
ally above  par  by  a fraction  of  a penny,  but  later 
on  great  fluctuations  took  place,  almost  invariably  as 
the  result  of  the  issue  of  large  quantities  of  paper  money, 
which,  unbacked  by  gold,  are  regarded  as  of  diminish- 
ing value  in  comparison  with  the  gold-backed  cur- 
rency of  other  countries. 

The  present  rate  of  exchange,  which  is  a recovery 
from  the  first  panicky  drop  of  paper  here,  as  in  many 
other  parts  of  the  world  on  the  outbreak  of  the  Euro- 
pean War,  is  below  a rate  which  the  efforts  of  Brazilian 
financial  men  succeeded  in  preserving  for  eight  years 


FINANCE 


2 77 


by  the  establishment  of  the  Caixa  de  Conversao;  con- 
tinuance of  exchange  at  a lowered  level  is  probably 
partly  the  result  of  the  issue  of  extensive  amounts  of 
inconvertible  paper  into  circulation  for  budgetary  pur- 
poses since  the  middle  of  1914,  and  partly  on  account 
of  the  heavy  demand  for  bills  of  exchange  on  London, 
which  began  to  have  their  effect  from  the  time  of  the 
Balkan  trouble  of  1913.  The  drop  would  without 
doubt  have  been  much  sharper  were  it  not  for  three 
causes  of  strength:  the  first  is  the  unprecedentedly  large 
trade  balance  in  favour  of  Brazil  in  1915,  amounting  to 
nearly  £28,000,000  ($140,000,000);  the  second  is  the 
Funding  Loan  which  the  Federal  Government  suc- 
ceeded in  making  with  its  European  creditors  in  the 
latter  part  of  1914  and  which  prevented  the  outflow 
of  other  large  sums  in  gold;  and,  third,  the  strong  gold 
reserves  of  the  Caixa  de  Conversao.  It  is  true  that 
these  reserves  have  been  drawn  upon  until  they  now 
stand  at  less  than  one-fifth  of  their  level  at  the  begin- 
ning of  1913,  but  without  that  stream  of  gold  and  its 
strengthening  effect  on  circulation  it  is  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  exchange  would  have  suffered  to  a greater 
extent. 

The  Caixa  de  Conversao,  which  I will  henceforth 
call  the  Conversion  Office,  is  Brazil’s  concrete  effort  to 
fix  a rate  of  exchange;  it  was  excellent  in  conception 
and  performed  its  function  admirably  until  unforeseen 
world  conditions  overpowered  its  operation.  After 
the  establishment  of  a Republic  in  Brazil  large  issues 
of  paper  were  for  the  first  time  put  into  circulation, 
with  the  accompaniment  of  successive  falls  in  exchange; 
the  proclamation  of  the  overthrow  of  the  Empire  found 
Brazil  with  not  more  than  199,000  contos  in  paper,  but 


278  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


eight  years  later  the  amount  had  risen  to  nearly  790,000 
and  Brazil  was  obliged  to  suspend  interest  on  her 
debt  to  Europe.  A Funding  Loan  of  ten  million  pounds 
sterling  was  arranged  with  Rothschild’s,  which  had 
the  effect  of  checking  the  fall  in  the  value  of  the  milreis, 
then  (1897-98)  down  to  eight  pence  or  nine  pence,  and 
even  touching  the  threatening  level  of  six  pence;  the 
arrangement  included  destruction  of  the  debased  paper 
in  considerable  quantities,  and  as  this  work  was  accom- 
plished exchange  steadily  rose  until  in  another  ten 
years’  time,  1908,  outstanding  inconvertible  paper 
amounted  to  less  than  650,000  contos,  and  the  value  of 
the  milreis  was  sixteen  pence.  But  by  this  time  the 
Conversion  Office  was  in  operation,  thanks  largely  to 
the  efforts  of  President  Affonso  Penna ; this  office  in  1906 
began  receiving  deposits  of  gold  and  issuing  against 
them  convertible  paper  bills  having  the  fixed  exchange 
value  of  fifteen  pence;  these  bills  always  equalling  the 
amount  of  gold  in  the  Conversion  Office  had  the  value  of 
actual  gold;  they  differ  in  appearance  from  the  ordinary 
paper  currency,  and  as  they  always  command  a five  per 
cent  premium  there  was  created  a tendency  to  hoard 
them — a tendency  which  cannot  occur  in  the  case  of  the 
bills  of  the  similar  Conversion  Office  of  Argentina, 
which  exactly  resemble  the  ordinary  bank  bills. 

By  the  end  of  1909  the  unbacked,  inconvertible  paper 
currency  of  Brazil  was  about  628,000  contos,  while  the 
convertible  bills  of  the  Conversion  Office  amounted  to 
over  225,000  contos,  with  an  equivalent  amount  of 
gold  on  deposit  there;  in  1910  it  was  found  possible 
to  raise  the  official  value  of  the  milreis  to  the  point 
that  the  money  market  indicated,  sixteen  pence, 
and  at  this  rate  of  exchange  all  the  paper  in  the  country 


FINANCE 


279 


stood  until  the  outbreak  of  the  European  War.  At  the 
same  time  that  the  exchange  rate  was  officially  raised 
a rule  was  put  into  operation  by  which  all  foreign  coins 
were  received  by  the  Conversion  Office  at  rates  based 
on  their  mint  value,  excepting  English  sterling  which 
was  still  accepted  at  its  exchange  value. 

It  is  likely  that  had  neither  the  Balkan  nor  the  great 
European  wars  happened  Brazil  might  have  been  able 
to  raise  again  the  official  value  of  the  milreis  farther 
towards  par;  at  the  end  of  1912  and  beginning  of  1913 
the  gold-backed  paper  amounted  to  over  406,000  contos 
of  reis,  and  the  unbacked  was  only  607,000  contos.  In 
spite  of  the  accumulation  of  heavy  debts  Brazil  was  in 
such  a flourishing  condition  that  she  was  able  to  show 
convertible  currency  amounting  to  two-thirds  of  the 
value  of  the  inconvertible,  as  against  one-sixth  in  1907-8. 
Today,  with  eighty  per  cent  of  the  gold  of  the  early 
1914  high-water  mark  gone  from  the  Caixa,  the  con- 
vertible currency  is  but  one-tenth  of  the  inconvertible, 
a matter  for  regret,  but  things  are  undoubtedly  in  a 
much  better  condition  than  had  the  Conversion  Office 
not  existed.  Suspension  of  conversion  was  ordered 
when  deposits  were  reduced  to  £5,005,000. 

Since  the  middle  of  1914  the  Brazilian  Government 
has  been  obliged  to  issue  nearly  400,000  contos  of  new 
inconvertible  paper;  it  has  not  actually  added  more 
than  about  100,000  contos  to  the  total  paper  currency, 
since  at  the  same  time  a shrinkage  in  the  convertible 
element  has  been  proceeding.  An  emergency  issue  of 
250,000  contos  was  made  in  the  autumn  of  1914  and 
another  150,000  was  authorized  in  August,  1915.  During 
the  same  period  of  stress  the  internal  floating  debt  was 
added  to  by  the  issue  of  Treasury  Bills  to  the  nominal 


28o 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


value  of  about  250,000  contos:  a curious  and  instructive 
situation  arose  from  the  employment  of  these  special  Bills. 

The  Government,  called  upon  for  currency  by  na- 
tional banks  which  were  embarrassed  by  lack  of  paper 
owing  to  the  financial  crise,  lent  them  sums  from  the 
emergency  issue,  charging  two  and  a half  per  cent  in- 
terest. Next,  pressed  for  payment  by  creditors  many 
of  whom  were  merchants  supplying  the  various  govern- 
mental departments,  and  the  emergency  issue  being 
insufficient  for  the  purpose  in  all  cases,  recourse  was 
had  to  Treasury  bills;  as  these  are  not  legal  tender  the 
merchants  were  not  altogether  pleased,  and  in  some 
cases  refused  to  accept  the  bills  and  had  to  wait  longer. 

The  creditor  who  did  accept  them  found  himself 
with  paper  in  his  possession  which  could  not  be  passed 
over  the  counter  or  paid  into  a checking  account  at  his 
bank,  and  his  only  recourse  was  to  sell  the  bills  for  what 
they  would  fetch,  bearing  the  loss  between  their  face 
value  and  market  price.  Although  the  bills  bear  in- 
terest at  five  and  six  per  cent,  almost  the  only  buyers 
were  the  banks  which  had  borrowed  money  of  the 
Emergency  issue,  for  in  the  meantime  the  Government 
agreed  to  accept  the  Bills  as  repayment  of  these  sums, 
in  a “curso  fibre,”  or  (limited)  legal  tender.1  The 
price  of  the  Treasury  bills  was  always  below  par,  and 
the  writer  saw  them  quoted  in  Brazilian  newspapers  as 
low  as  seventy-six.  Buying  at  this  or  higher  prices 
the  bankers  were  able  to  present  them  to  the  Govern- 
ment at  their  face  value  in  payment  for  currency  ad- 
vances, and  were  thus  in  the  fortunate  position  of 
making  profits  on  borrowed  money.  Promptly  labelled 

1 Refusal  to  accept  its  own  paper  would  of  course  have  had  the  immediate 
effect  of  dangerously  depressing  all  Government  issues. 


FINANCE 


281 

“sabinas”  in  this  country  where  everything  has  a 
nickname,  the  Treasury  Bills  roused  a storm  of  discus- 
sion in  the  press.  Totals  of  bonds  (apolicies)  and  pa- 
per money  issued  from  August  1915  to  October  1916 
amounted  to  nearly  550,000  contos. 

In  late  1916,  the  total  currency  of  the  Republic 
stood  as  regards  paper  money  at  1,551,122:650^500, 
over  a million  contos  being  inconvertible.  It  may 
be  useful  here  to  explain  the  manner  in  which  Bra- 
zilian money  is  counted.  It  is,  like  the  Spanish  from 
which  most  American  systems  are  derived,  very 
simple,  based  as  it  is  on  the  decimal  plan.  The  theoret- 
ical single  rei  or  real  does  not  exist,  the  smallest  coin 
now  consisting  of  the  nickel  one  hundred  reis. 

There  is  also  a coin  of  two  hundred  reis,  which 
pays  a car  fare  or  buys  the  Jornal  do  Commercio,  and 
400  reis,  and  a silver  500  reis.  The  silver  milreis  is 
what  it  says  it  is,  one  thousand  reis,  and  any  sum 
reckoned  in  milreis  and  below  a thousand  of  them 
is  written  with  the  figures  first,  followed  by  the 
“dollar”  sign;  thus  four  hundred  milreis  is  written 
400^000. 

One  thousand  milreis  (a  million  reis)  is  a conto,  the  co- 
lon sign  being  written  immediately  after  it.  Six  contos  is 
written  6:ooo$ooo.  The  present  exchange  value  of  the 
conto  is  a little  over  fifty  pounds  sterling. 

The  following  figures,  extracted  from  reckonings 
made  by  the  Brazilian  Review , show  some  of  the  varia- 
tions in  paper  currency: 

1 There  are  in  existence  small  copper  coins,  relics  of  the  day  long  past 
when  less  than  a hundred  reis  would  buy  something,  but  they  are  not  in  cir- 
culation because  they  have  no  purchasing  power.  The  post  office  sometimes 
presents  them  as  change  for  some  fraction  of  ioo  reis,  and  the  recipient 
usually  puts  them  into  the  hand  of  the  first  mendicante  encountered  outside. 


282 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


December,  1889 
“ 1894 

1899 
1904 


i95-485:538$ 

367.358:625$ 

733-727:i53$ 

673.739:908$ 


After  the  establishment  of  the  Conversion  Office  a new 
element,  convertible  paper,  was  added: 


Inconvertible 

Convertible 

Total 

1907. .. 

. . 643.531:727$... 

. . 100.032:700$.  . . 

..  743-564:42  7$ 

1912. . . . 

. . 607.025:525$... 

. .406.035:800$.  . . 

..1.013.061:325$ 

1914. .. . 

, . 822.496:018$... 

. .157.786:930$.  .. 

..  980.282:948$ 

1916. . . , 

, . 1.060.  562:720$.  . . 

••  94SS9:930$... 

. . 1. 155. 122:650$ 

Issues  of  paper  money  during  war  years  greatly  in- 
creased this  currency,  but  against  it  the  Government 
held,  in  1921,  nearly  63  million  contos  of  gold,  in  the 
Treasury  and  Conversion  Office.  Besides  this  amount 
of  paper  there  is  the  coin  circulation  of  nickel,  and  of 
silver  in  half-milreis,  milreis,  and  multiples. 

It  is  an  excellent  coinage,  of  good  design,  well  made 
and  convenient,  that  minted  since  the  Republic  bearing 
republican  devices,  the  date  of  inauguration  of  the  new 
administrative  plan,  etc.  But  now  and  again  a handful 
of  change  contains  a coin  bearing  the  bearded  head  of 
Dom  Pedro  II,  for  it  is  but  twenty-seven  years  since  the 
Empire  was  ended.  A curious  superstition  exists  among 
some  Brazilians  with  regard  to  these  coins;  received, 
they  are  never  passed  on,  but  carefully  put  away  in 
some  drawer:  “it  is  not  good  to  spend  the  Emperor,” 
they  will  tell  you,  handling  his  image  with  kindli- 
ness. 

The  six  million  pounds  sterling  below  which  the  gold 
reserves  of  the  Conversion  Office  have  not  been  allowed 
to  sink,  and  to  which  it  has  been  possible  to  add  little, 


FINANCE 


283 

back  the  large  amounts  of  convertible  paper,  and,  al- 
though a greatly  shrunken  sum,  it  has  its  effect  in 
steadying  exchange:  another  factor  in  preventing 
farther  breaks,  in  spite  of  the  seventy  per  cent  in- 
crease in  inconvertible  paper,  is  the  earnestness  with 
which  the  Federal  Government  and  the  people  of  Brazil 
are  insisting  upon  a vigorous  solution  of  the  problem 
of  the  foreign  debt.  Individuals  in  Brazil  show  them- 
selves no  less  interested  than  officials:  letters  bearing 
upon  the  situation  are  constantly  printed  in  the  public 
press,  many  personal  sacrifices  have  been  made  of 
percentages  of  salaries  by  legislators,  officials  and  civil 
servants,  and  it  is  clear  that  the  ablest  heads  in  Brazil 
are  trying  to  find  a way  in  which  Brazil  can  meet  her 
obligations.  This  sincerity  of  purpose  may  not  create 
gold,  but  it  does  strengthen  public  credit  and  helps  in  a 
more  or  less  direct  manner  in  restoring  confidence 
which  is  certainly  not  without  its  effect  upon  exchange. 

More  than  once  a fall  of  exchange  in  Brazil  has,  by  an 
anomaly,  actually  saved  industries  from  something 
near  bankruptcy.  This  is  readily  understood  when  it  is 
realized  that  exporters  of  such  products  as  rubber  and 
coffee,  cacao  and  hides,  selling  in  the  markets  of  London, 
Paris,  Hamburg  or  New  York,  are  paid  in  gold,  while 
they  pay  their  day  labourers  in  paper.  To  the  Brazilian 
interior  it  is  of  little  interest  that  the  bankers  of  Rio  say 
that  it  takes  another  milreis  paper  to  purchase  a gold 
pound  sterling;  the  country  markets  do  not  reflect  such 
nuances , unless,  indeed,  a fall  should  be  heavy  and  con- 
tinued in  which  case  it  must  in  course  of  time  react 
upon  the  whole  country.  But  a temporary  depression 
does  not  affect  the  amount  of  black  beans  or  mandioca 
that  can  be  bought  with  a milreis,  and  neither  the 


284  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


rubber  collector  of  the  Upper  Amazon  or  the  more 
sophisticated  worker  upon  a fazenda  of  coffee  or  cattle 
will  demand  a rise  in  wages  because  exchange  goes  down 
for  a time.  To  the  exporter  the  fraction  of  a milreis 
makes  all  the  difference  between  prosperity  and  ruin, 
and  both  rubber  and  coffee  have  benefited  thus  by 
temporary  low  rates  of  exchange;  the  present  crisis  has 
certainly  been  smoothed  to  the  agriculturist,  the  pro- 
ducer and  exporter,  of  Brazil,  by  the  fall  in  exchange 
since  the  middle  of  1914,  the  paper  receipts  of  the  coun- 
try showing  marked  inflation  due  to  the  larger  number 
of  milreis  bought  by  the  foreign  gold  paid  for  these 
products.  Low  prices  received  abroad  for  coffee  and 
rubber  are  thus  compensated,  and  when,  as  has  hap- 
pened since  the  war  began,  prices  have  been  better  than 
had  been  predicted,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that 
there  is  a feeling  of  prosperity  in  Brazil  and  that  money 
is  abundant  among  certain  classes  in  spite  of  adminis- 
trative difficulties. 

The  people  who  really  suffer  from  fallen  exchange  are, 
besides  the  governments  owing  sums  abroad  which 
must  be  paid  in  gold,  the  importing  houses  which  have 
bought  in  gold  and  must  sell  in  depreciated  paper,  and 
which  cannot  always  adjust  paper  prices  to  fit  the 
monetary  market;  the  transportation  companies,  too, 
whose  rates  are  fixed  now  find  themselves  with  paper 
in  hand  of  a lowered  value  abroad;  it  is  true  that  their 
obligations  to  employees  are  paid  in  paper,  but  since 
most  carrying  companies  are  owned  or  leased  in  Europe, 
and  dividends  must  be  paid  in  gold,  earnings  are  very 
much  reduced  when  large  quantities  of  additional  paper 
are  needed  to  buy  bills  on  London.  Every  railway,  port 
company,  street-car  line  and  lighting  and  power  com- 


Ministry  of  War,  Rio  de  Janeiro 
Avenida  Xazareth  Belem  (Para) 


FINANCE 


285 


pany  which  derives  its  capital  from  outside  Brazil  has 
seen  its  dividends  cut  down  during  the  last  two  years 
even  if  earnings  have  been  larger  and  expenses  reduced. 

Large  foreign  debts  have  of  course  a depressing  effect 
upon  exchange  in  the  long  run,  but  at  the  time  when  the 
loans  have  been  made  there  has  almost  always  been  a 
rise  corresponding  to  the  influx  of  gold;  this  effect  was  a 
marked  cause  of  wild  ups  and  downs  of  exchange  in  the 
palmiest  days  of  the  present  century.  I have  frequently 
asked  bankers  in  Brazil  if  they  would  like  to  see  an 
absolutely  stable  rate  of  exchange:  more  than  once  the 
answer  has  been  Yes,  and  the  examples  of  the  stabilized 
countries  of  the  world  quoted  as  showing  that  real 
financial  strength  can  only  be  obtained  with  a firmly 
gold-backed  currency.  But  even  the  most  conservative 
banker  will  admit  that  variations  in  exchange  have 
been  the  cause  of  large  earnings  on  the  part  of  financial 
houses  in  Brazil,  and  it  is  certain  that  fluctuation  is  not 
only  the  source  of  many  fortunes,  but  that  it  materially 
lends  itself  to  the  promotion  of  the  gambling  spirit  that 
helps  both  to  make  and  to  undo  a young  country;  it  is  a 
spirit  prevalent  in  many  parts  of  Latin  America  and 
perhaps  particularly  in  Brazil  where  such  spectacular 
turns  of  Fortune’s  wheel  have  been  seen  from  time  to 
time  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 

Investment  in  Brazil 

Investment  in  Brazil  from  other  countries  has  been 
of  three  chief  kinds:  blood,  brains,  and  money.  The 
investment  in  blood  came  during  the  sixteenth,  seven- 
teenth and  eighteenth  centuries  almost  exclusively  from 
Portugal — with  a forcibly  introduced  negro  element 


286 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


from  Africa  at  the  same  time — while  during  the  nine- 
teenth century  colonies  were  introduced  of  a remark- 
ably wide  variety  of  peoples;  the  investment  in  brains 
came  so  far  as  technical  skill  is  concerned  almost 
directly  as  a result  of  the  great  investment  of  the  third 
element,  money,  which  began  soon  after  the  erection  of 
the  monarchy  in  Brazil  in  1808,  flowed  steadily  for 
eighty  years,  and  increased  to  a golden  torrent  after 
the  establishment  of  the  republic  in  1889. 

Nearly  the  whole  of  the  investment  of  manhood,  skill, 
and  gold  came  from  Europe.  Brazil’s  debt  to  other 
parts  of  the  world  is  small.  The  African  slave  con- 
tributed more  towards  the  opening  up  of  Brazil  than 
any  other  race,  and  it  is  almost  impossible  to  conceive  of 
a flourishing  Brazil  without  him  during  at  least  the 
first  three  centuries  after  Portuguese  possession;  the 
Asiatic  only  came  here  in  noticeable  numbers  since  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century,  and  the  Oriental 
is  not  a strong  element.  North  America  has  done  re- 
markably little  for  Brazil.  With  the  exception  of  a few 
technically  skilled  individuals,  and  the  ill-fated  little 
colonies  which  sought  a home  here  after  the  Civil  War 
in  the  United  States  there  has  been  practically  no 
investment  in  personality  until  within  the  last  few 
years,  when  branches  of  American  businesses  have  sent 
resident  employees  to  Brazil:  investment  in  money  is 
still  in  its  infancy  so  far  as  Government  or  State  loans  1 
are  concerned,  development  work  in  railways,  docks, 
harbours,  or  city  improvements,  and  it  is  only  within 
the  last  few  years  that  North  American  money  has 

1 Since  1916  half  a dozen  Federal  or  State  loans  have  been  made  to  Brazil, 
successfully  floated  by  New  York  financial  houses. 


FINANCE 


287 


made  timid  entry  into  Brazil  for  the  establishment  of 
industries.  The  opening  of  branches  of  North  American 
financial  establishments  in  Brazil  dates  only  from  1915, 
and  the  capital  so  far  employed  is  insignificant  in  com- 
parison with  that  of  the  powerful  European  banks, 
established  in  South  America  for  a couple  of  gen- 
erations. 

No  Brazilian  securities  were,  up  to  the  end  of  1916, 
listed  upon  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange,  for  the  sim- 
ple reason  that  there  were  practically  no  North  Ameri- 
can investments  in  South  American  securities;  but  since 
the  war,  changes  in  the  world’s  finance  have  induced  a 
lively  interest. 

The  British  investment  in  Brazilian  securities,  apart 
from  many  enterprises  and  businesses  of  a private 
nature,  were  reckoned  at  the  commencement  of  1916  at 
£226,719,052,  or  the  equivalent  of  about  $1,133,595,000. 
The  French  investment  is  estimated  at  Fr.  1,500,000,000 
or  some  $300,000,000,  and  that  of  Belgium,  with  con- 
siderable railway  interests,  at  about  half  this  sum; 
Germany  and  Portugal  also  hold  a certain  quantity 
of  Brazilian  securities. 

The  following  are  the  most  important  securities  repre- 
sented by  the  British  investment  in  Brazil;  the  list 
shows  that  it  was  this  money,  more  than  any  other 
element,  which  contributed  to  the  opening-up  of  Brazil 
in  the  nineteenth  century,  giving  her  railways,  public 
utilities,  and  helping  to  operate  a number  of  industries. 
There  was  no  philanthropy  about  this  stream  of  bright 
pounds  sterling.  South  American  investments  were 
expected  to  return  a better  rate  of  interest  than  did 
similar  securities  in  Great  Britain,  and  frequently 
results  justified  the  hope.  The  average  return  on 


288 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


British  investments  in  South  America,  which  altogether 
total  about  £1,050,000,000  (say  $5,250,000,000)  in 
1913  was  four  and  seven-tenths  per  cent;  this  average 
dropped  to  three  and  one-half  in  the  first  year  of  the 
European  War,  a showing  which  very  many  profit- 
earning corporations  in  other  regions  of  the  world 
would  have  been  glad  to  equal  in  that  critical  time. 


BRITISH  INVESTMENTS  IN  BRAZIL 


Railways 

Amount  Name 

invested , igi6 

£605,569.  .Brazil  Great  Southern 
£341,000.  .Brazil  North  Eastern 
$57,835,20°.  .Brazil  Railways,  5 classes  1 
£4,187,650.  .Great  Western  of  Brazil,  4 classes 
£iS>893,429.  .Leopoldina,  6 classes 
£2,600,000.  . Madeira-Mamore 
£4,000,000.  .Mogyana  Sul-Mineira 
£100,000.  .Quarahim  International  Bridge 
£6,000,000.  .Sao  Paulo  (to  Santos) 

£3,175,000.  .Sorocabana 
£900,000.  .Southern  Sao  Paulo 


Public  Utilities 

£1,154,700.  .Port  of  Para 
£115,800.  .Cantareira  Water  Co.  (S.  Paulo) 

£1,321,900.  .City  of  Santos  Improvements,  4 classes 

1 Brazil  Railways  securities  are  listed  in  dollars  because  the  company 
which  bought  up  or  leased  a number  of  European-constructed  enterprises, 
was,  although  financed  entirely  with  French,  Belgian  and  British  money, 
registered  in  the  State  of  Maine. 


FINANCE 


289 


£2,000,000.  .City  of  S.  Paulo  Improvements 
£1,200,000.  .Manaos  Harbour  and  Manaos  Improvements 
£349,000.  .Para  Improvements 
£1,761,875.  .Rio  de  Janeiro  City  Improvements,  4 classes 
£1,423,400.  .Central  Bahia  Railway  Trust,  A and  B 
£275,000.  .S.  Paulo  Gas,  2 classes 
£2,571,871.  .Rio  Claro  Ry.  and  Investment,  2 classes 
£527,800.  .Amazon  Telegraph,  2 classes 
£91,000.  .Pernambuco  Waterworks,  2 classes 
£596,000.  .Manaos  Tramways 
£1,384,449.  . Para  Electric,  4 classes 
$110,361,400.  . Brazilian  Traction,  Light  and  Power,  2 classes 
$1,400,000.  . Jardim  Botanico  Tramways 
$28,013,500.  .Rio  de  Janeiro  Tramways,  Light  and  Power, 
2 classes 

$6,821,917.  .S.  Paulo  Tramways,  Light  and  Power,  2 
classes 

$2,000,000.  .S.  Paulo  Electric 

(The  five  last  mentioned  companies  are  registered  in 
Canada,  and  the  securities  are  thus  issued  in  dollars,  although 
the  stock  was  largely  held  in  Great  Britain  and  Canada,  prior 
to  the  European  War.) 

Industrial  Companies 

£1,182,400.  .Dumont  Coffee  Estates,  3 classes 
£120,000.  .S.  Paulo  Coffee  Estates 
£150,000.  .Agua  Santa  Coffee  Co. 

£646,265.  .S.  Juan  del  Rey  Mining 
£643,601 . . Rio  de  Janeiro  Flour  Mills 
£100,154.  - North  Brazilian  Sugar 
£100,000.  .Mappin  and  Webb  (Rio  and  S.  Paulo) 
£850,000.  .Brazilian  Warrant  Co. 

At  the  same  time  the  British  share  in  the  total  for- 
eign debts  of  the  Federal,  State  and  Municipal  govern-J 


290  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

ments  are  estimated  at  about  £150,000,000  out  of 
aggregate  obligations  of  some  £180,000,000.  These 
debts  are  treated  in  more  detail  on  another  page. 

There  are  very  many  enterprises  carried  on  with 
British  capital  which  do  not  figure  upon  the  Stock 
Exchange,  or  are  branches  of  businesses  which  do  not 
differentiate  the  capital  employed  in  Brazil.  Included 
in  one  or  other  of  these  classes  are  the  shoe  factories 
belonging  to  Clarke  (Glasgow)  in  Sao  Paulo;  the  cotton- 
spinning mills  of  Coats,  also  heir  of  Scotch  skill;  several 
cotton  cloth  mills,  as  the  Carioca  in  Rio,  and  others  in 
Petropolis  and  Campos;  sugar  factories  in  Pernam- 
buco, etc.  Included  also  in  money  investments  should 
be  counted  the  eight  and  a half  million  pounds  of 
paid-up  capital  of  the  three  British  banks,  the  British 
Bank  of  South  America,  the  London  and  Brazilian  and 
the  London  and  River  Plate,  which  total  with  their 
branches  to  twenty-four  establishments.  It  is  im- 
possible to  say  what  part  of  the  huge  shipping  invest- 
ment serving  Brazil  should  be  included,  but  it  is  a 
highly  important  element  and  quite  the  greatest 
developing  factor  in  Brazilian  commerce;  the  Royal 
Mail  is  the  great  popular  passenger  and  freight  line, 
while  Lamport  & Holt,  Booth,  Harrison,  the  Prince, 
Johnson,  and  other  smaller  lines  do  a big  Brazilian  busi- 
ness. 

Among  firms  doing  energetic  work  and  with  large 
capital  invested  are  the  two  great  coal  firms,  Wilson’s 
and  Cory’s,  with  their  depots  for  Welsh  coal,  their 
fleets  of  lighters,  repair  equipment,  salvage  depart- 
ments and  stevedoring;  old-established  commercial 
firms  such  as  Stevenson’s  and  Duder’s  in  Bahia,  chiefly 
occupied  with  cacao  export — the  latter  in  addition  to 


FINANCE 


291 


other  activities  maintains  a fleet  of  modern  whaling 
boats,  and  a factory  for  refining  whale-oil;  there  are 
the  “dry  goods”  stores  of  Sloper’s  series;  the  new  house 
of  Mappin;  the  Brack  firm  in  Pernambuco;  all  these 
and  a score  of  other  classes  are  not  only  commercial 
developers  but  in  a greater  or  smaller  degree  employers 
of  Brazilian  labour.  There  are  British  cattle  breeders, 
sugar  and  cotton  growers,  owners  of  coffee  and  cacao 
estates,  operators  of  ironworks,  foundries,  schools, 
bookshops,  oil-depots,  and  many  other  enterprises. 
The  total  British  investment  of  money  in  Brazil  cannot 
be  under  £300,000,000. 

The  external  debts  of  the  Brazilian  States  and 
Municipalities  have  varied  very  little  since  1913-14. 
Loans  became  difficult  to  obtain  from  the  beginning 
of  Balkan  troubles,  while  since  the  outbreak  of  the 
great  European  War  there  have  been  no  additions  to 
cash  advances  and  in  only  a few  cases  has  there  been 
substantial  reduction  of  debts.  On  the  contrary,  most 
debtor  States  and  cities  found  it  necessary  to  make 
funding  arrangements  by  which  specie  payments  were 
suspended  for  a number  of  years — measures  which 
gave  temporary  relief,  but  seriously  increase  the  amount 
of  money  to  be  paid  annually  when  the  funding  period 
comes  to  an  end. 

Certain  states,  as  Sao  Paulo,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Parana 
(paid  up  until  the  autumn  of  1917),  Espirito  Santo,  and 
the  Federal  District,  have  made  gallant  efforts  to  avoid 
piling  up  debt  in  this  way,  and  by  severe  economy  have 
continued  to  pay  interest  on  their  foreign  obligations. 
The  sacrifice  has  not  been  small,  for  with  depressed  ex- 
change it  has  taken  an  unusually  large  number  of 
paper  milreis  to  buy  sterling,  and  at  a time  when  it  has 


292  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

not  been  easy  to  collect  even  paper  revenues.  The 
effort  is  all  the  more  creditable. 

With  the  worst  part  of  the  1921  crisis  past,  state 
finances  have  been  materially  eased  by  calls  for  Brazil- 
ian products  at  enhanced  prices,  and  there  is  a percep- 
tible restoration  of  confidence,  at  the  end  of  1922.  In 
some  districts  the  post-war  boom  proved  an  undis- 
guised blessing,  bringing  profits  that  could  not  have 
been  looked  for  under  normal  conditions:  coffee,  hides, 
rubber,  cacao,  frozen  meat,  sugar  and  manganese, 
have  all  brought  stimulated  prices,  and  many  home 
industries,  such  as  coal  mining  and  cotton  spinning 
and  weaving,  have  been  greatly  encouraged. 

In  round  numbers  the  external  debts  of  the  separate 
states  of  the  Brazilian  Union  appear  to  amount  to 
about  forty-seven  million  pounds,  with  the  municipal- 
ities adding  another  twelve  or  thirteen  million  pounds. 

The  British  interest  in  these  loans  is  largely  dom- 
inant, but  important  sums  of  French  money  have  also 
been  invested.  Brazil’s  direct  debt  to  France  includes 
£10,400,000  for  three  loans  with  which  the  Bahia, 
Goyaz,  and  Corumba  railways  were  constructed;  there 
are  also  state  debts,  that  of  the  State  of  Para  being  held 
by  Meyer  Freres  of  Paris,  while  the  Societe  Marseillaise 
holds  the  bonds  of  the  big  Amazonas  debt.  Part  of  Sao 
Paulo’s  debt  is  owed  to  the  Societe  Generale,  and  the 
State  of  Espirito  Santo  owes  nearly  two  million  pounds 
to  the  Banque  Francaise  et  Italienne,  as  well  as  large 
sums  about  which  a dispute  rages,  advanced  by  the 
French  Hypothecary  Bank  established  at  the  port  of 
Victoria. 

There  is  a good  deal  of  French  money  sunk  in  the 
Madeira-Mamore  railway,  one  of  the  Farquhar  under- 


FINANCE 


293 


takings  which  cost  the  equivalent  of  more  than  six 
million  pounds  sterling,  fifteen  hundred  lives,  is  said  to 
need  much  reconstruction  already  (opened  to  traffic  in 
1912),  and  does  no  more  than  pay  its  way.  French 
bondholders  also  hold  part  of  Minas  Geraes  debt,  and 
of  that  of  Rio  de  Janeiro.  French  engineers,  operating 
with  French  money,  built  several  of  the  existing  rail- 
ways, notably  the  Auxiliaire  de  Chemins  de  Fer  au 
Bresil  with  1,400  miles  of  track;  it  was  a French  firm, 
the  Compagnie  Fran£aise  de  Rio  Grande  do  Sul, 
formed  in  Paris  in  1906,  which  put  one  hundred  and 
fifty  million  francs  into  the  port  works  of  that  southerly 
city,  opened  to  shipping  in  November,  1916.  French 
companies  also  began  the  port  works  of  Pernambuco, 
checked  by  money  paralysis  after  1914,  and  constructed 
the  new  harbour  facilities  of  Bahia. 

When  the  much-discussed  “Missao  Baudin”  came  to 
Brazil  in  1915,  it  was  with  the  object  of  investigating 
the  condition  of  the  properties  in  which  French  money 
was  concerned,  and  the  chief  member  of  the  party  was 
also  credited  with  an  effort  to  induce  the  Brazilian 
Government  to  guarantee  the  rather  clouded  State 
obligations  to  French  bondholders. 

German  investment  in  Brazil  is,  as  regards  money, 
not  of  great  importance;  it  is  largely  confined  to  the 
loans  made  by  the  Dresdner  Bank,  and  to  capital 
expenditures  in  the  southern  states,  including  the  con- 
struction there  of  a couple  of  small  railways.  There  has, 
however,  been  great  investment  of  blood  and  energy, 
there  are  many  strong  German  commercial  houses  and 
retail  stores  in  all  districts,  and  to  Germany  was  due  the 
first  granting  of  long  and  easy  credit  facilities  to  Brazil. 
Germans  have  been  largely  interested  in  the  coffee 


294 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


and  rubber  businesses.  The  Brasilianische  Bank  fur 
Deutschland  operates  with  a capital  of  fifteen  million 
marks,  and  the  Banco  Alemao  Transatlantic©  is  another 
strong  German  financial  house. 

This  summing  up  of  European  investment  in  Brazil, 
incomplete  as  it  is,  serves  to  demonstrate  the  extent  to 
which  Brazil  has  been  opened  up  by  Europeans.  The 
European  has  asked  for  Brazilian  raw  products,  brought 
ships  to  carry  them,  built  ports  for  the  ships  to  lie  in 
and  railroads  to  freight  the  products  to  the  ports;  has 
sold  manufactured  goods  and  lent  Brazil  the  money 
with  which  to  pay  for  them,  and  established  banks  for 
financial  operations  connected  with  the  business  created. 
Millions  of  hardy  and  industrious  people  have  gone  to 
live  in  Brazil  and  to  bring  the  land  into  cultivation,  to 
educate  their  children  as  Brazilians  and  help  in  the 
mental  progress  of  the  country. 

When,  therefore,  some  of  the  less  thoughtful  journals 
of  the  United  States  turned  their  eyes  towards  South 
America  at  the  outbreak  of  the  European  War  and  pro- 
tested loudly  that  this  country  was  not  getting  her 
“share”  of  commerce,  it  was  rather  as  if  the  cuckoo 
complained  that  she  was  not  getting  her  share  of  the 
robin’s  nest.  To  accuse  Europe  of  monopolizing  Bra- 
zilian trade  is  like  accusing  water  of  monopolizing  the 
river.  Brazil,  in  fact,  like  the  whole  of  the  Americas, 
had  no  trade  until  Europe  created  it  by  calls  for  natural 
products,  supply  of  transportation  means,  and  loans  of 
money  for  development  work. 

Today  the  situation  is  changed.  It  was  inevitably 
changing  as  North  America  herself  became  during  the 
last  fifty  years  herself  a caller  for  raw  products,  and 
began  to  take  great  quantities  of  Brazilian  coffee  and 


FINANCE 


295 


rubber,  drugs  and  hides.  Her  sales  to  Brazil,  despite  the 
drawback  of  the  shipping  triangle,  have  been  increasing 
for  some  time  along  certain  highly  specialized  lines, 
but  sales  and  purchases  are  not  sufficient  to  create  a 
permanent  link  between  countries,  especially  when 
conducted  through  the  medium  of  a third  person  as 
freighter  and  banker.  The  European  War  brought 
about  as  no  other  awakening  process  perhaps  could 
have  done,  a realization  of  the  new  duty  of  the  United 
States  to  South  America:  it  is  part  of  her  inheritance 
from  Europe.  It  is  the  work  that  lies  to  her  hand:  if 
she  will  do  it,  there  is  no  one  better  fitted  at  the  present 
time;  if  she  will  not  she  loses  an  extraordinary  chance 
for  both  service — and  profit. 

She  must  not  think  only  of  buying  and  selling,  and 
when  she  is  occupied  with  this  trading  she  must  remem- 
ber that  to  her  as  to  South  America,  sales  of  North 
American  goods  are  less  important  than  purchases  of 
South  American  raw  materials.  It  would  not  matter 
very  much  to  the  United  States  if  she  did  not  sell  any- 
thing to  Brazil:  the  probability  is  that  more  money  has 
been  spent  on  making  sales,  so  far,  than  the  profits 
amount  to.  What  does  matter  is  that  North  American 
manufacturers  should  continue  to  be  supplied  in  vast 
and  increasing  quantities  with  South  American  hides 
for  the  use  of  leather  manufactories;  with  ivory  nuts  for 
the  button  industry;  with  the  coffee  that  cannot  be 
grown  in  northern  climes;  with  rubber  and  fibres  and 
tannin  materials;  and  with  the  minerals  that  exist 
in  the  sands  and  rocks  of  South  America  in  unex- 
ampled variety  and  which  can  be  there  produced  at 
half  the  cost  that  North  America  is  forced  to  pay  for 
labour. 


296  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

Apart  from  trading  there  is  a great  need  for  more 
investment  in  Brazil,  for  more  opening  of  great  spaces, 
planting  of  fields,  lumbering,  road-building,  mining, 
cattle-raising.  There  is  space  for  twenty  million  people 
in  the  cool  temperate  zones  alone,  excluding  tropical 
areas.  Is  the  United  States  ready  to  take  up  the  task 
which  Brazil  cannot  perform  alone,  however  seriously 
she  attacks  her  problems?  Is  she  prepared  to  devote 
to  this  work  blood,  brains  and  money? 

Entry  of  North  American  interests  into  Brazil  has 
been  steadily  increasing  for  the  last  ten  years,  and  was 
hastened  after  the  outbreak  of  the  European  War;  there 
has  been  noticeable  since  then  much  more  energy  on  the 
part  of  individuals  and  small  firms.  Before  1914  the 
bulk  of  United  States  work  done  in  Brazil  was  part  of 
the  international  campaign  of  such  big  firms  as  Stand- 
ard Oil  or  the  Singer  Sewing  Machine  Company.  Oil 
has  its  rivals  in  other  companies,  also  with  depots  on  the 
coast,  but  the  Singer  machine  has  almost  a South 
American  monopoly;  locomotives,  cars,  elevators,  most 
of  the  typewriters,  electrical  equipment,  and  quantities 
of  agricultural  machinery,  are  sold  by  American  houses 
with  branches  in  Brazil.  Agricultural,  printing  and 
shoe  machinery  of  United  States  origin  also  seems  to 
make  good  sales. 

In  1915  the  National  City  Bank  of  New  York  opened 
branches  in  Santos,  Rio  and  S.  Paulo;  the  United  States 
Steel  Corporation  started  a line  of  freight  steamers,  and 
was  followed  by  a number  of  new  lines. 

The  two  great  Light  and  Power  companies  of  Rio 
and  S.  Paulo  are  Canadian,  but  some  of  the  capital, 
equipment  and  personnel  are  from  the  U.  S.;  one  of 
the  two  existing  packing-houses  is  Chicagoan  in  capital, 


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297 


equipment  and  personnel.  Several  of  the  allied  enter- 
prises of  the  Brazil  Railways  Company  are  American 
managed  and  equipped,  as  the  lumber  mills  at  Tres 
Barras  and  the  cattle  company,  as  well  as  part  of  the 
transportation  lines.  The  Brazil  Railways  is  the 
largest  American-registered  company  in  Brazil,  but  is 
rather  an  example  of  how  not  to  do  things  in  South 
America,  for  although  a few  interests,  as  those  cited 
above,  are  doing  well,  the  company  as  a whole  is  in 
the  hands  of  a receiver.  The  time  is  probably  past 
when  money  could  be  obtained  in  Europe  by  persons 
registering  a company  in  a second  country  to  spend 
it  in  a third,  and  what  is  most  needed  now  is  continued 
and  genuine  development  work  actually  financed  from 
North  America. 

Most  of  the  United  States  firms  with  agencies  in 
Brazil  are  sellers,  but  among  the  purchasers  are  several 
coffee-importing  houses  and,  with  the  eclipse  of  German 
traders,  the  greatest  rubber  dealers,  while  the  past  year 
has  seen  American  agents  coming  to  Brazil  to  increase 
takings  of  manganese,  precious  stones  and  hides. 


The  State  Debts 

The  figures  given  below  are  in  round  numbers  only, 
and  are  without  the  additions  which  the  Funding  loans 
entail;  all  sums  are  in  pounds  sterling: 

State  External  Debt 

Alagoas £ 500,000 

Amazonas 3,000,000 

Bahia 3,875,000 

Ceara 600,000 


29B  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


State  External  Debt 

Espirito  Santo 1,160,000 

Maranhao 720,000 

Minas  Geraes 6,800,000 

Para 2,040,000 

Parana 2,200,000 

Pernambuco 2,370,000 

Rio  de  Janeiro 3,000,000 

Rio  Grande  do  Norte 350,000 

Santa  Catharina 220,000 

Sao  Paulo 20,350,000 


The  States  of  Goyaz,  Matto  Grosso,  Parahyba,  Piauhy, 
Rio  Grande  do  Sul  and  Sergipe  have  no  external  debts. 

The  Funding  Loan  arranged  by  the  State  of  Para  adds 
another  £1,070,000  to  her  debt;  the  Funding  Loan  of 
Minas  Geraes  adds  £600,000  and  that  of  Amazonas, 
£850,000. 

The  external  debts  of  Brazilian  municipalities,  also 
borrowers  from  Europe,  are  about  as  follows,  round 
numbers  again  being  used: 


Federal  District  of  Rio  de  Janeiro £4,395,000 

Manaos  (Amazonas) 214,000 

Belem  do  Para 750,000 

plus  Funding  Loan 88,500 

Recife  (Pernambuco) 400,000 

Bahia 2,000,000 

Sao  Paulo 750,000 

Santos 1,000,000 

plus  Funding  Loan 118,000 

Other  municipalities  in  S.  Paulo  State.  . 685,000 

Porto  Alegre  (Rio  Grande  do  Sul) 600,000 

Pelotas  (Rio  Grande  do  Sul) 600,000 

Bello  Horizonte : 216,000 


FINANCE 


299 


Federal  Debts 

On  the  outbreak  of  war  in  Europe  in  August,  1914, 
the  foreign  debts  of  the  Federal  Government  of  the 
United  States  of  Brazil  amounted  to  something  over 
£102,000,000.  President  Wenceslao  Braz  inherited 
obligations  which  had  been  enhanced  by  about 
£30,000,000  during  the  previous  four-year  regime  of 
Marechal  Hermes  da  Fonseca.  Brazil’s  reputation  as 
a good  world  customer  had  long  permitted  her  to  borrow 
freely,  often  paying  old  debts  or  interest  with  new 
loans,  and  piling  up  deficits  as  the  most  facile  solution 
of  economic  complications. 

The  world  shock  of  1914  brought  exchange  down 
with  a run,  and,  although  it  recovered  from  the  first 
fall,  it  was  soon  evident  that  Brazilian  credit  could  not 
bring  it  back  to  its  old  level,  and  that  the  financial 
burden  of  the  country,  its  obligation  to  pay  foreign 
debts,  would  be  rendered  still  more  onerous  by  this 
depression;  it  would  take  just  so  many  more  milreis, 
with  Federal  receipts  perilously  lessened  by  the  stop- 
page of  imports,  to  buy  pounds  sterling,  than  in  normal 
times. 

Brazil  asked  her  foreign  creditors  for  relief,  obtained 
a Funding  Loan  by  which  payments  on  interest  and 
amortization  were  suspended  until  October,  1917.  As 
the  specie  payments  called  for  by  the  foreign  debt 
would  have  needed  about  £5,200,000  in  both  1915  and 
1916,  a burden  was  lightened,  for  the  time,  which  the 
increased  balances  of  trade  during  the  intervening 
period  have  also  helped  to  lift.  But  between  1914  and 
1918  the  Foreign  Debt  was  increased  by  nearly 
£12,000,000  of  accumulated  interest,  and  the  sums 


300  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

required  for  annual  service  were  more  difficult  to  find 
after  the  depreciation  of  the  milreis  in  1920.  In  1920 
the  total  nominal  Foreign  Debt  was  £120,400,000,  plus 
325,000,000  francs.  Later,  Brazil  borrowed  a few 
millions  from  the  United  States,  and  in  early  1922 
again  borrowed  successfully  in  London.  The  internal 
debt,  at  the  beginning  of  1921,  amounted  to  over  one 
million  contos.  It  will  be  seen  from  the  following 
list  that  while  nearly  £12,000,000  came  from  France 
yet  the  great  bulk  of  the  borrowed  sums  came  from 
England  originally:  a considerable  proportion  of  the 
original  sums — apparently  about  forty  per  cent — were 
destined  to  the  construction  or  acquisition  of  railways 
and  port  works  in  the  Republic. 


BRAZIL’S  EXTERNAL  STERLING  DEBT,  DECEMBER  31ST,  1920 

Sterling 


Loan — £ s.  d. 

1883 4,599,600  o o 

1888  6,297,300  o o 

1889  19,837,000  o o 

1895 7,442,000  o o 

1898  (Funding) 8,613,717 

1901  (Recision) 16,619,320  o o 

1903  (Port  Works,  Rio  de  Janeiro) 8,500,000  o o 

1908 4,000,000  o o 

1910  10,000,000  o o 

1911  (Port  Works,  Rio  de  Janeiro) 4,500,000  o o 

Ceara  Railways,  1911 2,400,000  o o 

Lloyd  Braziliero,  1906-191 1 2,100,000  o o 

Loan — 

1913  11,000,000  o o 

1914  (Funding) 14,502,396 


Total  nominal 


120,411,334  o o 


FINANCE 


3QI 


Franc  Debt 

1908-1909 — Loan  for  the  construction  of  the  Itapura  to  Corumba 


Railway 100,000,000 

1909 —  Loan  for  the  Port  Works  at  Pernambuco 40,000,000 

1910 —  Loan  for  the  construction  of  the  Goyaz  Railway 100,000,000 

1911 —  Loan  for  the  construction  of  the  Viafao  Bahiana  network 

of  railways 60,000,000 

1916 — Goyaz  Railway  loan,  responsibility  for  which  was  assumed 
by  the  Government  by  Decree  No.  12,183  of  August  30th, 

1916 25,000,0000 


Total  nominal Fr.  325,000,000 

This  would  be  an  exceedingly  heavy  debt  if  Brazil 


were  an  old,  exploited,  filled  up  country  with  no  spare 
lands  and  her  natural  resources  tapped;  Brazil’s  reason 
for  hopefulness  lies  in  her  youth,  the  vast  undeveloped 
land  and  mineral  resources  of  her  patrimony,  her  good 
credit  among  the  nations,  and  the  sincerity  with  which 
her  statesmen  are  attacking  the  task  of  resuming  in- 
terest payments. 

Brazil  has  a big  income,  but  it  needs  to  be  increased 
before  she  can  pay  her  debts  without  a strain;  the 
President  has  repeatedly  declared  his  firm  intention  to 
sustain  payments  at  whatever  sacrifice,  and  has  re- 
cently called  the  States  into  conference  with  a view  to 
devising  new  methods  of  raising  revenue.  In  the 
Budget  estimates  of  the  Federal  Government  for  1921 
revenue  was  reckoned  at  102,000  contos  gold  (milreis  = 
twenty-seven  pence)  and  624,761  contos  paper  (prob- 
ably a fraction  over  twelve  pence);  expenditure  at  the 
same  time  was  calculated  at  75,680  gold  and  711,640 
paper  contos,  including  in  the  gold  payments  the  serv- 
ice of  the  foreign  debt. 


302  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

The  Federal  Government’s  chief  revenues  are  de- 
rived from  import  taxes,  impartially  placed  upon  en- 
tries into  all  the  States;  income  of  the  States  is  mainly 
derived  from  export  dues,  while  municipalities  get 
revenues  from  imposts  upon  professions  and  industries, 
and  manage  sometimes  to  get  a share  in  export  dues. 
The  Acre  Territory,  purchased  by  the  Brazilian  Gov- 
ernment from  Bolivia  in  1903,  is  the  only  part  of  Brazil 
paying  export  as  well  as  import  dues  to  the  Federal 
authorities,  this  contribution  coming  from  rubber. 

To  help  raise  new  revenues,  impostos  do  consumo 
(excise)  have  been  increased  on  articles  consumed  in 
the  country,  the  addition  to  the  burden  of  the  retailer 
and  the  consumer  himself  raising  some  outcry,  as  has 
also  the  suggestion  to  put  on  railway  freight  imposts. 
The  States,  exporting  larger  quantities  of  goods  than 
normally,  are  not  so  badly  placed  as  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment, but  that  they  look  upon  the  matter  of  raising 
income  from  produce  exported  with  different  eyes  in 
different  parts  of  the  republic  is  shown  by  a look  at 
some  of  the  export  tax  figures  for  1922;  these  figures 
are  not  constant,  as  the  pauta  is  frequently  changed  by 
the  officials  of  exporting  points  in  response  to  condi- 
tions in  international  markets: 

Coffee,  the  premier  export  of  Brazil,  pays  to  S.  Paulo 
an  export  tax  of  9 per  cent,  plus  five  francs  a bag  for 
Valorization  service;  in  Minas  it  pays  8^2,  plus  five 
francs  a bag,  used  for  administrative  purposes;  Bahia 
coffee  pays  10  per  cent  of  its  value,  Pernambuco  4.8,  Pa- 
rana 30  per  cent,  Santa  Catharina  8,  Espirito  Santo  12}4. 

Cacao  pays  in  Bahia  14  per  cent  of  its  value;  in  Ama- 
zonas 5 per  cent;  in  Para  5 per  cent;  in  Maranhao  4 
per  cent. 


Fishing  Boats  of  North  Brazil. 


Rocks  at  Guaruja,  near 
Santos. 


Bertioga,  the  Old  Entrance  to 
Santos. 


Cantareira  Water  Supply,  Sao  Paulo. 


FINANCE 


303 


Sugar  pays  in  Pernambuco,  the  principal  producing 
state,  8 per  cent,  with  additional  charges  bringing  this 
to  nearly  10  per  cent  for  interstate,  and  12  per  cent  for 
foreign,  exports;  in  Bahia,  4 per  cent;  Alagoas,  7.8; 
Parana,  4.4;  Rio  sugar  pays  2^  to  the  State  and  2 per 
cent  to  the  municipality  of  Campos. 

Rubber  pays  15  per  cent  of  its  value  in  Amazonas, 
or  half  of  the  amount  paid  in  the  palmy  days  of  the 
industry;  Para  charges  18  per  cent;  the  Acre,  6 per  cent; 
Matto  Grosso,  10  per  cent. 

Cotton  pays  11  per  cent  in  Pernambuco,  nearly  12 
in  Alagoas,  8 per  cent  in  Bahia. 

Hides  pay  20  per  cent  in  Amazonas;  Maranhao,  two 
cents  a kilo;  Pernambuco,  18  per  cent;  Alagoas,  13 
per  cent;  Bahia,  15  per  cent;  Parana,  and  Santa  Catha- 
rina,  10  per  cent;  Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  10.5;  Matto 
Grosso,  6 per  cent. 

Tobacco  pays  a variety  of  dues,  ranging  from  12 
per  cent  in  Bahia,  the  chief  exporting  point,  to  4 per 
cent  in  Pernambuco  and  the  southern  States. 

Matte  pays  3.6  in  Rio  Grande,  46  reis  a kilo  in  Parana 
and  20  reis  a kilo  in  Santa  Catharina. 

Frozen  meat,  a new  industry,  escaped  taxation  until 
September,  1916,  when  Rio  put  on  a tax  of  about  one- 
hundredth  of  an  American  cent  per  pound,  a delicately 
weighted  burden,  which  a vigorous  industry  can  stand 
perfectly  well  if  it  is  not  multiplied  too  much. 


Principal  Banks  in  Brazil 

Certain  strong  banks,  as  the  three  of  British  origin 
(London  and  Brazilian,  London  and  River  Plate,  and 
the  British  Bank  of  South  America),  have  branches  or 


3°4 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


agencies  at  several  places,  the  two  first  possessing  estab- 
lishments in  every  important  town;  the  National  City 
Bank  of  New  York  has  three  Brazilian  branches  (San- 
tos, Rio  and  S.  Paulo);  the  French-Italian  Banque 
Fran^aise  et  Italienne  and  the  (French)  Credit  Foncier 
have  several  branches  besides  the  establishments  in  Rio 
and  S.  Paulo,  as  also  have  the  (German)  Banco  Ale- 
mao  Transatlantic©,  Brasilienische  Bank  fur  Deutsch- 
land, and  the  Sudamericanische,  the  (Spanish) 
Banco  Espanol  del  Rio  de  la  Plata,  and  the  (Portu- 
guese) Banco  Nacional  Ultramarino,  and  the  (Italian- 
Belgian)  Italo-Belge. 

The  Banco  do  Brasil  is  the  strongest  Brazilian  bank, 
with  headquarters  in  Rio  and  many  branches.  In 
addition  to  the  houses  spreading  all  over  Brazil  each 
State  has  its  own  banking  firms  established  in  the 
capital.  In  banking  power  the  Federal  Capital,  Rio  de 
Janeiro  stands  first,  with  a capital  of  nearly  46,000  con- 
tos  of  reis;  S.  Paulo  is  next,  with  banking  capital  of 
over  13,000  contos;  Rio  Grande  do  Sul  comes  third, 
with  over  11,000  contos,  Minas  Geraes  following,  suc- 
ceeded by  Bahia  and  Pernambuco,  Para  and  Ama- 
zonas. 

The  chief  banks  of  Rio,  in  addition  to  the  three 
British,  one  American,  and  other  foreign  banks  above 
mentioned,  as  well  as  the  Banco  do  Brazil,  are  the  Banco 
Commercial  do  Rio  de  Janeiro;  the  Banco  do  Com- 
mercio;  Banco  do  Estado  do  Rio  de  Janeiro;  Mercantil 
do  Rio  de  Janeiro;  and  the  Lavoura  e Commercio  do 
Brasil.  Sao  Paulo,  besides  the  foreign  establishments, 
has  the  Commercial  do  Estado  de  S.  Paulo;  Banco  do 
Commercio  e Industria  de  S.  Paulo;  Banco  de  S.  Paulo; 
Banco  de  Credito  Hypothecario  e Agricola  do  Estado  de 


FINANCE 


305 

S.  Paulo;  the  Banco  de  Construcfoes  e Reservas,  and 
the  Uniao  de  S.  Paulo. 

Among  the  local  banks  doing  excellent  service  are  the 
Hypothecario  e Agricola  do  Estado  de  Minas  Geraes 
(headquarters  in  Bello  Horizonte);  the  Provincia  do 
Rio  Grande  do  Sul;  Banco  do  Porto  Alegre;  the  Banco 
do  Recife  (Pernambuco);  the  Commercial  do  Para; 
Credito  Hypothecario  e Agricola  do  Estado  da  Bahia; 
Banco  do  Ceara;  Banco  do  Maranhao;  but  many  other 
places  also  have  comparatively  small  banks,  and  in 
addition  there  are  many  private  “Casas  bancarias” — 
financial  houses — strongly  entrenched,  doing  sound  and 
useful  work. 


CHAPTER  VII 


THE  WORLD’S  HORTICULTURAL  AND  MEDICINAL  DEBT  TO 

BRAZIL 

Loudon,  the  English  horticultural  authority,  says 
in  his  Encyclopedia  of  Gardening  (1835)  that  “some 
of  the  finest  flowers  of  British  gardens  are  natives  of 
South  America,  especially  annuals.”  He  mentions  the 
dahlia — by  the  obsolete  name  of  Georgina;  the  Mar- 
vel of  Peru  (Mirabilia)  the  Calceolaria  and  the  Schizan- 
thus,  adding  that  “beautiful  shrubs  are  not  less  nu- 
merous, but  they  are  generally  inmates  of  greenhouses.” 

Since  Loudon  wrote  Brazil,  as  other  parts  of  South 
and  Central  America,  has  been  the  happy  hunting 
ground  of  plant  explorers,  and  the  gardens  of  Europe 
and  North  America  have  been  beautified  to  an  extent 
of  which  that  devoted  horticulturist  never  dreamed. 
The  tale  of  the  indebtedness  of  the  gardens  of  less 
fortunate  climes  to  South  America  in  general  and  Brazil 
in  particular  for  plants  and  shrubs,  both  ornamental  and 
of  economic  value,  would  occupy  a large  volume;  the 
extent  of  the  debt  is  no  less  great  than  general  ig- 
norance of  it.  Practically  nothing  is  known  of  early 
attempts  to  introduce  Brazilian  plants,  for  they  were 
failures,  and  failures  they  remained  for  two  and  a half 
centuries  after  South  America  was  discovered.  The 
science  of  botany  and  art  of  gardening  were  alike  in 
primitive  stages  until  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and,  whilst  South  American  plants  were 
known  by  their  local  names,  means  for  their  successful 


THE  WORLD’S  DEBT  TO  BRAZIL 


3°7 


transportation  had  not  been  found;  nor,  in  the  rare 
cases  of  their  surviving  long  journeys  by  sailing  boat, 
was  successful  cultivation  of  these  exotics  known.  If,  as 
is  possible,  there  are  yet  in  herbariums  in  Portugal  any 
plants  which  the  early  colonists  sent  home,  no  printed 
record  of  them  seems  to  exist. 

It  was  not  until  the  second  decade  of  the  nineteenth 
century  that  any  serious  attempts  were  made  to  reveal 
to  the  world  the  richness  of  Brazilian  flora,  and  only 
within  recent  years  that  anything  like  a comprehensive 
account  of  it  has  been  published:  as  far  back  as  1648 
Willem  Piso  and  Georg  Marcgrav  published  in  Amster- 
dam a large  folio  volume  containing  spirited  woodcuts 
carefully  coloured  by  hand  of  Brazilian  flowers,  shrubs, 
fishes,  birds,  reptiles,  etc.,  but  this  was  a natural  history 
rather  than  a botanical  book.  Both  these  pioneers  are 
commemorated  in  Pisonia  and  M arc gr avia,  species  of 
which  are  still  in  cultivation. 

In  1820  three  scientific  works  dealing  with  Brazilian 
flora  appeared.  Mikan’s  Delectus  florcs  . . . bra- 
siliensis  was  issued  in  Vienna:  Raddi’s  Di  alcune 
specie  nuove  del  Brasile  and  his  Quarante  piante 
nuove  de  Brasile , were  issued  in  quarto  volumes  in 
Modena.  Four  years  later  St.  Hilaire  published  in 
Paris  his  Histoire  des  Plantes  of  Brazil  and  Paraguay; 
between  1827  and  1831  J.  E.  Pohl’s  Plantarum  Brasilce 
icones  appeared  in  two  folio  volumes  in  Vienna.  Other 
floras  of  Brazil,  notably  that  of  Martius,  1837-40, 
came  out  at  intervals,  and  by  the  end  of  the  century 
the  plant  life  of  Brazil  was  well  covered  by  scientific 
publications. 

So  far  as  Great  Britain  is  concerned,  and  it  may  be 
taken  as  a criterion  of  Europe  generally,  the  most  com- 


3o8  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

prehensive  record  of  sources  and  dates  of  the  introduc- 
tion of  South  American  plants  is  Loudon’s  Hortus 
Britannicus,  first  published  in  1830.  It  enumerates 
something  like  thirty  thousand  species,  exotic  and 
otherwise.  As  the  importation  of  South  American 
plants  was  only  in  its  infancy  at  that  time  many  hun- 
dreds of  flowers,  now  familiar  in  gardens  and  hot- 
houses, are  not  recorded,  but  the  book  is  reasonably 
complete  up  to  the  time  of  publication.  Most  of  the 
more  important  introduced  aliens,  before  and  after  the 
date  of  Loudon’s  great  work,  may  be  found  described 
and  illustrated  in  the  Botanical  Magazine  of  London 
(issued  monthly  from  1787  to  the  present  time),  while 
others  are  dealt  with  in  Loddiges’  Botanical  Cabi- 
net, 1818-24,  and  in  many  other  of  the  quantity  of 
horticultural  publications  appearing  in  Europe  during 
the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century — notably  in 
Nicholson’s  Dictionary  of  Gardening  and  in  the  re- 
vised edition  of  Johnson’s  Gardener's  Dictionary , bring- 
ing the  record  to  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Whilst  many  European  botanists,  such  as  Langs- 
dorff,  Burchell,  Lhotsky  and  others  had,  during  the 
earlier  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century,  explored  cer- 
tain parts  of  Brazil,  nothing  was  of  more  importance  to 
general  knowledge  of  the  plant-treasures  of  the  country 
than  the  work  accomplished  by  a Scotch  botanist,  Dr. 
George  Gardner,  afterwards  Superintendent  of  the 
Botanical  Gardens  of  Ceylon.  His  Travels  in  the  In- 
terior of  Brazil  during  1836-41  is  a record  of  high 
merit,  not  only  on  account  of  its  contribution  to  Brazil- 
ian botany  and  natural  history,  but  because  it  is  a 
faithful  and  genial  picture  of  life  and  conditions  in  the 


THE  WORLD’S  DEBT  TO  BRAZIL 


309 


interior  of  Brazil  three-quarters  of  a century  ago.  The 
amazing  richness  and  beauty  of  Brazilian  flora  had 
never  before  been  revealed  to  Europeans  as  through 
Gardner’s  book  and  his  collections  of  thousands  of 
specimens;  it  is  extraordinary  that  these  fascinating 
Travels  should  have  remained  out  of  print. 

Of  all  the  groups  of  plants  introduced  to  the  rest  of 
the  world  from  the  southerly  countries  of  the  New 
World,  orchids  easily  rank  first,  as  the  most  precious, 
the  most  varied  and  beautiful,  and  the  most  costly:  the 
first  brought  to  England  came  from  the  East  and  West 
Indies.  Epidendrum  cochleatum  found  its  way  from 
Jamaica  to  England  and  was  flowered  for  the  first  time 
in  1787;  another  species  of  the  same  lovely  family, 
Epidendrum  jragrans,  came  also  from  Jamaica  in  1778 
but  was  not  flowered  until  1788.  In  1794  fifteen  species 
of  epiphytal  orchids  were  at  Kew,  chiefly  brought  from 
the  West  Indies  by  Admiral  Bligh,  and  for  many  years 
these  islands,  and  India,  were  the  main  sources  of  orchid 
importation.  But  in  1793  a species  of  Oncidium  was 
introduced  to  England  from  Panama:  in  18 II  another 
came  from  Montevideo,  and  by  1818  Brazil  had  begun 
to  contribute  species  of  the  same  genus.  In  1825  Lod- 
diges  of  Hackney,  London,  had  in  cultivation  some 
eighty-four  species  of  orchids  from  South  America  and 
the  East,  and  by  1830  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society 
of  London  had  collectors  in  various  parts  of  Brazil, 
hunting  for  rare  plants. 

Many  beautiful  orchids  were  sent  home  by  business 
men  residing  in  South  America;  for  instance,  William 
Cattley  of  Barnet,  who  died  in  1832,  and  whose  name  is 
commemorated  by  the  noble  Cattleya,  established  an 
extensive  correspondence  with  business  men  living 


3ID 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


abroad  for  the  purposes  of  obtaining  new  and  rare 
orchids,  and  through  his  efforts  came  many  fine  speci- 
mens, chiefly  from  Brazil.  The  earliest  Brazilian  Cat- 
tleya  to  reach  Europe  was  C.  Loddigesii,  1815,  but  the 
most  famous  and  most  protean  species  of  all  C.  Cabiata, 
reached  Europe  in  1818,  and  others  of  the  same  genus 
came  in  rapid  succession  from  Brazil,  Colombia,  Mexico, 
Costa  Rica,  Guatemala  and  the  Argentine.  Many 
beautiful  Brazilian  orchids  were  sent  by  William  Harri- 
son, a merchant  living  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  during  the 
thirties  and  forties  of  last  century,  to  his  brother  Rich- 
ard in  Liverpool,  whose  residence  at  Aigburth  was  in 
those  days  a Mecca  to  which  orchid  lovers  paid  annual 
pilgrimages. 

To  introduce  these  plants  was  one  thing;  to  cultivate 
them  successfully  was  quite  another.  Hooker  once 
declared  that  for  more  than  half  a century  England  was 
“the  grave  of  tropical  orchids”  and  that  those  sur- 
viving did  so  in  spite  of,  rather  than  on  account  of,  the 
treatment  they  received.  Each  grower  had  his  special 
system,  mostly  wrong:  it  was  not  until  after  repeated 
and  costly  failures  that  orchid  importing  and  growing 
became  a success,  and  that  success  only  became  general 
about  1850. 

The  debt  of  other  countries  to  Brazil  and  indeed  all 
tropical  America  for  ferns  and  cacti  is  also  great.  The 
Canna  and  its  ally  Marcanta  may  be  traced  in  Eng- 
land as  far  back  as  1730;  the  Begonias  and  the  Gesnera 
date  from  18 16-18,  whilst  the  favourite  Abutilon,  in- 
troduced in  1837,  is  today  hardy  in  many  parts  of 
Europe.  The  Gloxinia,  arriving  from  South  America  a 
century  earlier,  has  developed  possibilities  undreamt-of 
by  earlier  horticulturists,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of 


•9  ' 


On  the  Madeira  River,  Amazonas;  rapids  at  Tres  Irmaos. 
Victoria  Regia  lilies  near  Manaos. 


THE  WORLD’S  DEBT  TO  BRAZIL 


3” 

the  Fuchsia,  brought  from  Mexico  and  Chile,  1823- 
25.  The  most  popular  South  American  shrub  is  the 
Escallonia  macrantha , introduced  from  the  island  of 
Chiloe  (Alexander  Selkirk’s  retreat)  in  1848;  it  has  for 
many  years  been  a favourite  hedge  plant  in  the  county 
of  Cornwall,  where  it  thrives  in  pink  profusion. 

The  Calceolaria  is  another  early  nineteenth  century 
alien  from  South  America;  so  too  is  the  Dahlia:  sixty 
years  ago  whole  nurseries  were  given  over  to  the  culture 
and  hybridization  of  this  flower,  and  an  entire  literature 
appeared  on  the  subject.  Its  popularity  has  somewhat 
waned,  but  on  the  other  hand  the  most  gorgeous  of 
greenhouse  climbers,  Bignonia,  was  never  more  treas- 
ured than  it  is  today.  Brazil,  and  other  adjacent  coun- 
tries, has  given  us  also  many  species  of  such  genera  as 
Achimenes,  Alstromeria,  Anthurium,  Aristolochia,  Cal- 
adium,  Calathea,  Hibiscus,  Iponoea  (the  Evening 
Primrose),  and  hundreds  of  other  beautiful  plants. 

Among  plants  introduced  and  cultivated  abroad  for 
other  reasons  than  their  loveliness  are  the  pineapple 
(Anana  saliva)  which  reached  Europe  as  early  as  1690; 
coconuts  were  carried  from  Brazil  a century  ago;  and 
the  Brazil  nut  ( Bertholletia  excelsa ),  which  was  prob- 
ably first  taken  to  Portugal  by  very  early  navigators, 
finds  its  first  mention  in  England  in  the  1830  edition  of 
Lindley’s  Natural  System  of  Botany;  he  speaks  of 
the  “Souari  ...  or  Brazil  nuts  of  the  shop,  the  kernel 
of  which  is  one  of  the  most  delicious  fruits  of  the  nut 
kind.” 

Brazil’s  gifts  to  the  pharmacopeias  of  the  world  have 
also  been  very  valuable.  Discovery,  or  rather  publica- 
tion in  Europe  of  the  medicinal  properties  of  many 


312 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


Brazilian  plants  is  due  to  Piso,  author  with  Marcgrav 
(“een  geboren  Duitscher”)  of  the  work  De  Medicina 
Brasiliensi,  etc.,  of  1648,  already  mentioned.  This 
monumental  publication  was  undertaken  under  the 
patronage  of  Count  John  Maurice  of  Nassau,  Governor 
of  North  Brazil  during  the  period  of  Dutch  occupation, 
a far-seeing  man  whose  portraits  are  to  be  seen  in  the 
public  galleries  of  Amsterdam  and  Brussels.  Nearly  all 
the  Brazilian  plants  with  notable  medicinal  properties 
are  fully  described  and  illustrated  in  this  book:  among 
them,  and  perhaps  the  best  known,  is  Ipecacuanha, 
obtained  from  the  root  of  Cephalis  ipecacuanha , native 
to  the  damp  shady  forests  of  Brazil.  This  drug  was  first 
mentioned  in  an  account  of  Brazil  given  by  a Portuguese 
friar  in  Purchas’s  Pilgrimes,  1625,  where  it  is  called 
Ipecaya , so  that  it  is  clear  that  Piso,  although  the  first 
to  bring  the  drug  to  the  notice  of  European  medical 
men,  was  not  the  discoverer  of  its  qualities.  In  Eng- 
land the  famous  physician  John  Pechey  was  the  first 
savant  to  bring  ipecacuanha  to  general  notice  in  his 
Observations  made  upon  the  Brasilian  root  called  Ipe- 
pocoanha,  issued  in  1682;  a few  years  later  it  was 
firmly  established  in  European  medicine.  In  1686, 
says  A.  C.  Wootton  ( Chronicles  of  Pharmacy,  1910) 
Louis  XIV  bought  from  Jean  Adrien  Helvetius  the 
secret  of  a medicine  with  which  a number  of  remarkable 
cures  had  been  performed;  Helvetius,  whose  patronymic 
was  Schweitzer,  was  the  son  of  a Dutch  quack,  and  he 
not  only  made  his  own  fortune  out  of  ipecacuanha  (the 
royal  gift  alone  was  a thousand  louis  d’or)  but  got  the 
appointment  of  Inspector  General  of  the  hospitals  of 
Flanders  and  court  physician  to  the  Duke  of  Orleans. 

Another  famous  drug  from  Brazil  is  the  Balsam  of 


THE  WORLD’S  DEBT  TO  BRAZIL 


3i3 


Capevi  (or  Copaiba — Copaiva),  the  sap  of  Copaifera 
officinalis , a genus  of  the  leguminous  order  of  plants;  it 
was  described  by  Piso;  is  mentioned  in  Edward  Cooke’s 
Voyage  to  the  South  Sea  and  round  the  World,  pub- 
lished in  1712,  and  first  made  its  appearance  in  English 
gardens  in  1774,  having  previously  figured  in  Jacquin’s 
Stirpium  Americanarum  Historia,  1 763. 

Jaborandi,  obtained  from  the  dried  leaflets  of  Pilo- 
carpus pennatifolius,  was  described  by  Piso  and  Marc- 
grav:  like  the  two  mentioned  above,  this  drug  was  well 
known  to  the  native  tribes  of  Brazil  and  employed  by 
the  pages  or  medicine-men;  it  received  its  first  serious 
notice  in  recent  times  in  the  Diccionario  de  Medicina 
published  by  Dr.  T.  J.  H.  Langgard  in  Rio  de  Janeiro 
in  1865.  The  plant  reached  English  gardens  three 
years  later,  but  its  properties  do  not  seem  to  have  been 
recognized  in  Europe  until  1874,  when  a Brazilian  scien- 
tist, Dr.  Coutinho,  sent  some  leaves  to  M.  Rabutau, 
the  eminent  pharmacist  of  Paris,  who  tested  it  and 
declared  it  to  be  as  valuable  as  quinine  as  a febrifuge 
and  sudorific. 

Guarana  ( Paullinia  sorhilis,  Mart.)  is  a tonic  widely 
used  in  Brazil  and  Peru,  which  has  recently  been  mak- 
ing its  way  into  favour  in  Europe,  France  taking  the 
drug  readily.  It  is  obtained  from  seeds,  and  a paste 
made  which  hardens  into  such  a consistency  that  it 
can  only  be  powdered  by  a grater;  this  powder  is  dis- 
solved in  cold  water  and  taken  as  a tonic  and  digestive. 
One  of  Brazil’s  bottled  mineral  waters  is  also  made 
with  Guarana  added,  and  the  pink-tinted,  rather  acrid 
drink  is  quite  agreeable. 

The  Brazilian  interior,  and  particularly  Amazonas, 
is  so  rich  in  medicinal  herbs,  seeds  and  roots,  that  it 


3H  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 

would  take  pages  to  give  their  names,  and  as  they  are 
not  popularly  known,  the  reader  would  not  be  greatly 
enlightened,  but  the  Quassia  ( Quassia  amara , Linn.) 
has  international  fame;  Jalap  ( Piptostegia  Pisonis ) is 
an  old  acquaintance.  Many  drugs  have  local  names  as 
the  Lagryma  da  Nossa  Senhora  (Tear  of  Our  Lady),  a 
diuretic;  the  Melao  de  Sao  Caetano  (S.  Caetano’s 
Melon),  whose  little  fruit  of  the  cucumber  class  is  a 
medicine,  whose  stalks  furnish  a fine  fibre,  and  whose 
leaves  contain  potash.  There  is  at  least  one  remarkable 
astringent,  the  Cipo  Caboclo  ( Davallia  rugosa);  Cambara 
is  a much-used  base  for  pectoral  syrups;  the  Batata  de 
Purga  and  the  Purga  do  Pastor  are  used  all  over  Brazil; 
many  of  the  Rubiaceae  are  used  as  febrifuges;  there 
are  numbers  of  tonics,  as  the  Laranjeira  do  Matto 
(Forest  Orange)  and  the  Pao  Parahyba  and  Pao  Pereira. 
Andiroba  oil  is  used  to  make  a skin  soap,  and  also  to 
light  the  family  lamp  in  northerly  states;  the  Sapu- 
cainha  ( Carpotroche  brasiliensis)  tree  yields  a nut  con- 
taining fifty  per  cent  of  oil  used  locally  for  rheumatism 
in  Minas,  Rio  and  Espirito  Santo;  and  the  Pinhao  de 
Purga’s  seeds  furnish  an  oil  said  to  be  convertible  into 
gas. 

Besides  the  well-known  Vanilla,  there  is  known  one 
fine  flavouring  and  scenting  plant,  the  Pao  precioso,  one 
of  the  Lauraceae;  its  bark  and  seeds  are  sweetly  per- 
fumed and  it  is  much  used  by  local  chemists. 

Brazil  could  if  necessary  ship  excellent  mineral  waters 
abroad.  There  is  an  import  of  bottled  waters  into 
Brazil,  but  they  have  rivals  in  the  national  waters, 
chiefly  found  in  Minas  Geraes  and  there  bottled  by 
Brazilian  companies.  Perhaps  the  most  popular  are 


THE  WORLD’S  DEBT  TO  BRAZIL 


3i5 

Caxambu  and  Salutaris,  but  there  are  others.  The 
chief  points  of  origin  are  at  Aguas  Virtuosas,  Caxambu, 
Lambary,  Cambuquira,  Sao  Lourengo,  and  the  recently 
opened  wells  at  Araxa. 

Altogether  the  natural  gifts  of  Brazil  in  minerals  and 
plants  are  such  that  not  only  does  she  supply  the  basis 
for  many  home-made  remedies  but  also  ships  drugs 
abroad;  were  her  resources  better  investigated  and 
quantities  developed  she  could  greatly  increase  her 
position  as  a supplier  of  medicines  to  international 
markets. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


brazil’s  exterior  commerce 

Studying  the  commerce  of  Brazil  with  the  rest  of 
the  world,  following  the  remarkable  variations  in 
amount  of  export  of  certain  articles,  and  the  no  less 
remarkable  fluctuation  in  price  of  others,  one  comes  at 
last  to  the  conclusion  that  Brazilian  trade  has  never 
had  a normal  year.  Almost  every  twelve  months  has 
seen  changes  taking  place  which  are  not  the  result,  in 
most  cases,  of  the  growth,  to  be  expected,  along  def- 
inite lines;  influences  unforeseen  have  more  than  once 
knocked  the  bottom  out  of  certain  prosperous  busi- 
nesses, production  has  been  affected  by  remote  causes, 
or  stimulated  by  others  as  little  to  be  normally  reckoned 
upon.  The  history  of  Brazilian  exterior  commerce, 
which  is  largely  the  history  of  her  exports  since  pur- 
chases depend  upon  income,  shows  some  of  the  most 
sensational  transferences  of  prosperity  from  one  region 
and  industry  to  another,  oddest  appearances  and  dis- 
appearances of  industries,  falls  and  rises  of  prices,  in 
commercial  records. 

To  realize  something  of  this  it  is  only  necessary  to 
think  of  the  dominance  of  the  northern  promontory, 
in  colonial  days,  when  sugar  was  the  great  Brazilian 
staple  together  with  dyewood,  and  of  the  total  disap- 
pearance of  the  latter — until  the  last  year — from  con- 
sideration; of  the  once-feverish  gold  industry,  which 


BRAZIL’S  EXTERIOR  COMMERCE 


31 7 


shipped  over  a thousand  tons  of  the  refined  metal  in 
its  hey-day,  employing  an  army  of  people,  and  which 
has  now  vanished,  with  the  exception  of  the  operations 
of  two  British-owned  companies;  of  the  obliteration 
of  Brazil’s  fame  as  a diamond  producer  after  the  dis- 
covery of  the  blue-clay  deposits  of  Kimberley;  of  the 
rise  of  the  once-neglected  and  uncolonized  south  to  the 
position  of  “leader”  section  of  the  country  with  its 
enormous  coffee  production,  built  up  during  the  last 
forty  years;  of  the  phenomena  of  the  rubber  export 
of  the  extreme  north,  as  well  as  the  new  developments 
in  Brazilian  business  appearing  on  the  horizon,  great 
in  potentiality,  during  the  war  period,  and  which  may 
bring  Brazil  into  the  front  rank  of  countries  exporting 
chilled  beef  and  producing  manganese  ore.  Few  coun- 
tries on  the  active  list  have  seen  such  revolutions  in 
industry;  they  have  been  largely  due  to  the  variety  of 
Brazilian  regions,  and  they  will  in  all  probability  be 
repeated  while  Brazil  opens  her  great  expanses  of  virgin 
prairies,  forests,  and  mineral-saturated  hills. 

The  following  figures  show  that  between  1915  and 
1920,  Brazil’s  exterior  commerce  was  nearly  equal  in 
value  to  that  of  the  previous  ten  years: 


Relation  of 

Average 

Ten-year  Total  lmporta- 

Total  Exporta- 

Imports  to 
Exports 

Value  of 

Period  tion  Values 

tion  Values 

Milreis 
in  Pence 

1846-1855...  737,720 

contos. 

..  691,740  contos.. 

.106.6%.... 

.27  1/16 

1856-1865. . . 1,228,171 

U 

..1,225,563  “ .. 

. 100.2%.  . .. 

. 26  9/32 

1866-1875...  1,551,630 

<C 

..1,902,331  “ .. 

. 81.5%... 

.21  9/16 

1876-1885..  .1,768,564 

(( 

..1,969,515  “ .. 

. 89.8%... 

.19  31/32 

1886-1895..  .3,267,650 

(6 

• -4,073,764  “ • 

. 80.2%.  . . 

.18  3/16 

1896-1905  . . . 4,856,634 

<( 

..7,324,009  “ .. 

■ 66.3%... 

•11  35/64 

1906-1915..  .6,331,487 

M 

..8,115,492  “ .. 

. 78  %... 

•14  39/64 

1916-1920  *. . 6,063,000 

U 

..7,397,300  “ . 

1 Five  years. 

. 81.5%... 

.13  11/25 

3i 8 BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


These  figures  show  one  or  two  points  clearly — first, 
the  vitality  of  Brazil,  for  as  one  industry  has  waned 
another  has  waxed,  exportation  values  steadily  show- 
ing increases  in  spite  of  the  caprices  of  fortune;  it  is 
also  plain  that  for  the  last  fifty  years  Brazil  has  ex- 
ported more  than  she  has  imported.  In  war  years, 
this  excess  of  exports  was  very  much  more  accentuated, 
but,  although  this  balance  is  useful  in  helping  to  steady 
exchange,  to  pay  debts  abroad,  and  to  put  money  into 
shippers’  and  producers’  pockets,  it  has  the  effect, 
when  imports  are  greatly  curtailed,  of  starving  the 
Federal  Government,  whose  revenues  are  mainly  de- 
pendent upon  import  taxes. 

The  famous  “nine  principal  articles”  of  Brazilian 
export  were  coffee,  cotton,  sugar,  rubber,  cacao,  hides 
(of  cattle),  skins  (of  goats  and  sheep),  tobacco,  and 
matte  (“Paraguay  tea”)  up  to  1916.  Other  items  which 
displayed  marked  rises  up  to  1918  were  lard,  rice,  Brazil 
nuts,  carnauba  wax,  manganese  ore,  precious  and  semi- 
precious stones,  and  chilled  or  frozen  beef.  Prosperity 
over  all  Brazil  depends  much  more  upon  volume  and 
variety  of  goods  exported  than  upon  prices,  for  while 
soaring  values  put  large  profits  into  the  hands  of  the 
few,  great  volumes  of  products  mean  employment  for 
the  field  labourer  or  collector,  for  transportation  com- 
panies, and  a host  of  intermediaries.  In  addition  to 
increased  prices,  the  actual  volume  of  Brazilian  exports 
was  larger  in  the  five  years  1916-1920,  rising  from  seven 
million  tons  in  1911-1915  to  nearly  ten  million  tons. 
This  prosperity  was  due  to  war  calls,  several  new  items 
appearing  on  the  1916-20  lists  on  page  319. 

The  preponderance  today  of  Sao  Paulo  as  a pro- 
ducer state  is  shown  by  her  shipment  values — 465,212 


BRAZIL’S  EXTERIOR  COMMERCE  319 


1915 

1914 

1913 

1912 

1911 

Coffee 

17,061,000 

11,270,000 

13,267,000 

12,080,000 

11,258,000  bags 

Matte 

75,885 

59,354 

65,415 

62,880 

61,834  tons 

Rubber 

35,i65 

33,531 

36,232 

42,286 

36,547 

it 

Sugar 

59,074 

31,860 

5,367 

4,772 

36,208 

“ 

Cacao 

44,980 

40,767 

29,759 

30,492 

34,994 

it 

Hides 

38,324 

3L442 

35,075 

36,255 

31,832 

it 

Tobacco 

27,096 

26,980 

29,388 

24,706 

18,489 

a 

Cotton 

5,228 

30,434 

37,424 

16,774 

14,650 

It 

Skins 

4,578 

2,487 

3,232 

3,189 

2,798 

it 

IQ20 

1919 

1918 

1917 

1916 

Coffee 

11,525,000 

12,963,000 

7, 433,ooo 

10,606,000 

13,039,000  bags 

metric 

Matte 

90,686 

90,200 

72,781 

65,431 

76,777 

tons 

Rubber 

22,876 

32,213 

22,211 

31,590 

28,865 

it 

Sugar 

109,141 

69,429 

115,634 

138,159 

54,438 

it 

Cacao 

54,419 

62,584 

41,865 

55,622 

43,720 

it 

Tobacco  (leaf)  30,562 

42,575 

29,011 

25,282 

21,021 

it 

Cotton  (raw). 

24,696 

12,153 

2,594 

5,941 

1,071 

it 

Cotton  seed. . 

23,564 

22,649 

42 

22,882 

11,762 

ft 

Rice 

134,554 

28,423 

27,916 

44,639 

1,315 

ft 

Mandioca  Flour.  8,660 

21,834 

65,322 

18,745 

5,370 

tt 

Beans 

23,000 

58,607 

70,914 

93,536 

45,817 

It 

Brazil  Nuts.. 

9,279 

24,998 

6,750 

16,057 

9,882 

it 

Hard  Woods. 

125,394 

103,824 

179,799 

64,264 

82,816 

it 

Manganese . . 

453,737 

205,725 

393,388 

532,855 

503,130 

it 

Meat 

63,600 

54,094 

60,509 

66,452 

33,66i 

tt 

Lard 

11,166 

20,028 

13,270 

10,235 

3 

tt 

Hides 

37,265 

56,788 

45,584 

39,912 

53,5n 

tt 

Tinned  Meat 

1,649 

25,398 

17,223 

6,552 

856 

tt 

Skins 

3,966 

5,166 

2,215 

3,046 

3,840 

tt 

contos  out  of  the  total  exports,  or  about  forty-six  per 
cent  of  Brazilian  sales.  Next  in  values  come  the  sales 
of  Minas  Geraes,  worth  221,000  contos,  and  Rio  de 
Janeiro  state,  with  about  176,000  contos;  Bahia  is 
fourth,  with  exports  worth  over  102,000  contos;  Para 
and  Amazonas  follow  with  about  70,000  and  64,000 
contos  respectively;  Parana,  33,565  contos;  Espirito 
Santo,  nearly  30,000;  and  Pernambuco,  with  22,600 
contos,  are  next,  followed  by  Ceara,  shipping  nearly 


320 


BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


19,000  contos’  worth  of  goods,  to  Rio  Grande  do  Sul, 
with  sales  worth  almost  16,000  contos;  the  only  other 
state  shipping  over  10,000  contos’  worth  of  goods  is 
Maranhao. 

The  United  States  has  been  for  many  years  the 
greatest  single  purchaser  of  Brazilian  materials,  gener- 
ally taking  rather  more  than  one-third  of  all  exports, 
Europe  taking  nearly  all  the  rest,  with  South  America 
also  buying  an  appreciable  share,  amounting  to  about 
five  per  cent  of  the  total.  The  coffee  trade  is  that  in 
which  the  United  States  is  most  largely  concerned: 
for  the  last  six  years  Brazilian  exports  of  coffee  have 
averaged  over  fourteen  million  bags,  and  of  this  the 
United  States  has  been  taking  about  one-third,  Ger- 
many, Austria  and  the  Netherlands  accounting  for  an- 
other third,  France  taking  from  one  to  two  million 
bags,  and  the  rest  of  Europe  absorbing  the  remainder. 
The  United  States,  purchaser  of  a billion  dollars  of 
tropical  and  sub-tropical  products  in  1915-16,  is  an 
eager  taker  of  Brazilian  hides  and  skins,  an  export 
markedly  stimulated  since  the  European  War  began, 
important  shipments  coming  from  Rio  Grande  do  Sul 
among  other  cattle  states;  she  has,  during  the  last  two 
years,  apparently  been  able  to  receive  larger  quantities 
of  all  Brazilian  products,  and  perhaps  the  most  salu- 
tary trend,  for  both  the  United  States  and  Brazil,  has 
been  in  the  great  quantities  of  raw  materials  taken  by 
the  northern  country.  These  materials  are  the  breath 
of  life  to  the  manufactures,  and  nothing  is  better  for 
Brazil  than  increased  volumes  of  such  exports. 

During  1915  the  United  States  bought,  reckoning 
in  dollars,  nearly  $107,000,000  of  Brazil’s  total  ex- 
ports of  over  $255,000,000,  while  Great  Britain  took 


BRAZIL’S  EXTERIOR  COMMERCE 


321 


$31,000,000,  France  $29,000,000,  Sweden  $23,000,000 
(chiefly  coffee,  and,  in  view  of  the  disappearance  of 
direct  sales  to  Germany,  in  all  probability  transferred  to 
the  Central  Powers),  and  the  Netherlands  $16,000,000; 
sales  to  the  Argentine  were  nearly  $13,000,000,  while 
Uruguay  took  about  four  and  a half  million  dollars’ 
worth  of  goods.  Apparently,  trading  between  Brazil 
and  her  South  American  neighbours  on  the  same  side 
of  the  Andes  has  been  greatly  increased  during  1916, 
Argentina  buying  unprecedented  amounts  of  sugar, 
as  well  as  maintaining  her  imports  of  matte.  During 
1915,  the  total  sales  of  Argentina  to  Brazil  were  worth 
over  89,000  contos,  or  something  like  $22,000,000,  of 
which  nearly  $20,000,000  were  accounted  for  by  wheat 
and  wheat  flour.  At  the  same  time  Brazil  sold  to  the 
Argentine  42,226  contos’  worth  (say  $10,560,000)  of 
goods,  of  which  nearly  70  per  cent  was  accounted  for 
by  matte  sales,  with  1 5 per  cent  of  tobacco. 

Brazilian  imports  show  important  changes  in  places 
of  origin  since  the  European  War;  formerly  Great  Brit- 
ain was  by  far  the  greatest  seller  to  this  country,  sup- 
plying nearly  a third  of  the  total  goods  purchased.  In 
1911  the  order  in  importance  of  countries  selling  to 
Brazil  were  Great  Britain,  Germany,  the  United  States, 
France,  Argentina,  Portugal,  Belgium;  in  1912  and 
1913  the  same  order  was  maintained,  but  with  Ger- 
many increasing  her  sales  at  a greater  rate  than  Great 
Britain,  while  the  United  States  also  showed  gains. 

In  1914,  with  the  outbreak  of  war,  England  still  re- 
tained her  top  place,  but  with  reduced  values,  while 
the  United  States  drew  second,  Germany  third  and 
the  Argentine  fourth.  In  1915,  the  United  States  sold 


322  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


more  goods  than  any  other  country,  and  Great  Britain 
came  second,  maintaining  her  command  of  the  market 
in  cotton  piece  goods  in  a remarkable  manner,  and 
holding  over  half  of  the  coal  sales  in  the  latter  item 
until  1916,  when  United  States’  sales  replaced  the 
Welsh  coal,  whose  export  was  then  prohibited.  De- 
velopment of  South  Brazilian  coal  fields  also  helped  to 
supply  the  home  market  to  an  increasing  degree. 
During  1921-2  Britain  recaptured  much  of  her  coal 
sales,  and  the  share  of  the  United  States  fell  almost  to 
pre-war  conditions,  from  top  place  (81%)  in  1920. 

In  U.  S.  currency,  Brazil  imported  nearly  #146,000,- 
000  worth  of  goods  in  1915,  the  United  States  selling 
about  #47,000,000,  England  nearly  #32,000,000  worth, 
while  Germany’s  former  average  of  fifty-two  millions 
was  reduced  to  two.  Many  of  these  changes  were  due  to 
the  abnormal  war  situation,  and  while  it  could  not  be 
expected  that  the  United  States  would  retain  an  ad- 
vantage due  to  the  elimination  of  competitors,  she  was 
still  the  greatest  supplier  of  goods  in  1920,  selling  over 
twice  as  much  as  her  nearest  rival,  Britain,  or  goods 
worth  #52,000,000,  in  comparison  with  Britain’s 
#25,000,000.  The  European  countries  organized  for 
overseas  trading  are  making  strenuous  and  determined 
efforts  to  regain  the  commerce  built  up  by  the  trans- 
portation lines  and  development  work  financed  from 
Europe;  although  they  awaited  the  end  of  the  war 
to  renew  these  efforts.  Probably  the  best  recom- 
mendation of  the  United  States  to  a large  share  in 
Brazilian  imports  lies  not  in  commissions  and  re- 
unions, but  in  her  extensive  purchases  of  Brazilian 
raw  material. 

Broadly  speaking,  nearly  sixty  per  cent  of  Brazilian 


BRAZIL’S  EXTERIOR  COMMERCE 


323 


imports  are  manufactured  goods.  Large  quantities  of 
machinery,  steel  rails,  locomotives,  etc.,  are  usually 
imported  every  year  for  the  construction  work  needed 
in  a vast  and  young  country.  Over  twenty-four  per 
cent  of  the  total  purchases  are  of  foodstuffs  with  wheat 
and  wheat-flour  largely  preponderant:  last  year  one- 
fifth  of  the  total  imports  of  Brazil  were  credited  to  these 
two  items.  About  ten  per  cent  of  Brazilian  purchase 
money  is  paid  for  coal.  Financial  stringency  due  to 
abnormal  conditions  has  cut  down  Brazilian  imports 
in  a salutary  manner — and  fortunately  for  Brazilian 
merchants  and  retailers,  stores  were  at  the  outbreak  of 
hostilities  largely  overstocked  by  the  unprecedentedly 
large  purchases  of  1913,  when  $326,000,000  was  paid 
for  imports. 

As  a result  of  big  sales  and  reduced  buying,  Brazil  in 
1915  had  a trade  balance  in  her  favour  of  about  440,000 
contos  of  reis  (exports  1,022,634  contos  and  imports 
582,996  contos)  the  equivalent  of  nearly  $140,000,000 
in  United  States  currency.  This  balance  appears  to 
have  largely  remained  abroad  to  help  meet  Brazilian 
indebtedness,  and  helped  to  steady  exchange.  This 
surplus  of  export  values  dropped  well  below  400,000 
contos  in  1916  and  1917,  and  to  148,000  in  1918,  but 
rose  to  the  unprecedented  height  of  845,000  in  1919, 
when  the  milreis  soared  to  the  rather  inconvenient 
exchange  value  of  18  pence.  The  years  1920  and  1921 
witnessed  adverse  balances  of  trade,  with  the  milreis 
fallen  below  8 pence,  1922  showing  trade  recoveries 
practically  to  pre-war  values.  Brazil  has  weathered 
many  a storm  commercially  and  industrially  because 
the  world  needs  her  raw  material;  she  has  every  reason 
for  confidence  in  the  future. 


324  BRAZIL:  TODAY  AND  TOMORROW 


State 

Capital 

Area 

Sq.  Kilometers 

Population 

Alagoas 

. . . Maceio 

...  58,500... 

. . . 785,000 

Amazonas 

. . . 1,895,000.  . . 

. . . 390,000 

Bahia 

. . . 2,500,000 

Ceara 

Federal  District 

(Sao  Sebastiao) 

Espirito  Santo 

45,000.  . . 

Goyaz 

...  747,000... 

. . . 300,000 

Maranhao 

. . . 500,000 

Matto  Grosso 

. . .1,379,000.  . . 

Minas  Geraes 

...  575,000 

. . .4,500,000 

Para 

. . . Belem 

. . . 1,150,000.  . . 

. . . 660,000 

Parahyba 

...  75,000... 

Parana 

. . . 250,000.  . . 

. . . 500,000 

Pernambuco 

Piauhy 

. . .Therezina 

Rio  de  Janeiro 

. . .Nictheroy 

. . . 1,300,000 

Rio  Grande  do  Norte.  . . 

. . .Natal 

...  57,500..., 

Rio  Grande  do  Sul 

. . . Porto  Alegre.  . . . 

. . . 236,500 

Santa  Catharina 

• ••  43,535- •• 

Sao  Paulo 

Sergipe 

. . . 39,090.  . . 

Acre  Territory 

The  Territory  of  Acre  was  legally  acquired  from 
Bolivia  by  the  Government  of  Brazil  in  1903  but  had 
been  populated  and  the  rubber  reserves  worked  by 
Brazilian  seringueiros  for  at  least  ten  years  previously. 
Their  entry  into  Bolivian  lands  was  the  cause  of  much 
friction  until  the  final  settlement  by  the  payment  by 
Brazil  of  £2,000,000  for  this  rich  area. 


B. Bacon 

Ba....  Bananas 

Be Beans 

Bu....  Butter 
CW....Camauba  Wax 

C Catt/e 

Ch Cheese 

Co... ..Cocoa 
Cof.... Coffee 
Cop...Copahyba 
Cot....  Cotton 
DM. ...Dried  Meat 

F. Feathers 

F/.....F/our 
GJ....  GoatBkins 
HW....  Hardwoods 

H. Hides 

KC.... Kapok  Cotton 

M Maize 

Mt....  Matte 
Mk....Mi/k 

N. A tuts  ( Brazi/) 

PF.....Pia.ssa\fa  Fibre 
F.....  Potatoes 
Rice 

Ru Rubber 

S Sugar 

T. Tobacco 

W.....W/ne 
Wo....  Woo/ 


RAM 

rm 

w.../o,ol 
Mt..8,CC 
FI.. .0,98 
Wo..  1 .26 
rjJj.i 

t\260,l 

65X30, < 


Adopted  from  maps  issued  by  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture  of  Brazil 


' S...  23, 700 , 000  Kits 
Cot... 6, S3 0 , OOO  H i/s 

CH 8/3 , OOOHils 

GS. 300,  QQOHi/s 

H 64, 4 00/0/3 

Hu 34-,  580  H/s 

6/ 30,  4-60/0/s, 

F 24,  4 00  H Us 

Co 25, 4-00  Hi/s 


Cot. 3,  / 30,  000  Kits 
OS.. ..326,  OOOHils 

H 93  ,000 Hits 

<5 45 \ 000  Hi/s 

r 20  , QQOHi/s 

Hu / S ,90  O Hi/s 

£of. -.250  Hi/s 


10,000 Hi  Is  5fLuiz 

>0,  OOOHils  Aiar AN 

0,  000 Hectolitres/ H::. 900,  OOOHils 
S F... 490, OOOHi/s' 
Cot./SO,  OOOH/i 
CH..82 ,00 OHHs 
GS...40  ,OO0HU 
FI...  30, OOOHils1 


1 Cot.2, 250,  OOOHils 
IS 296,  OOOHils 

IGS 130  ,000  Hits 

39  ,300 Hi/s 


10,  OOOHils 
3,  S3  OK,  Is 


ortaJezS 

CE 

H.J.23ok)6u,.  , 

Hu. I,  lOO.WOHils] 

CW  06, OOOXHs 
Co  1 8 SO,  000 X, 

'Ru::.23,’oopmj  \yp%7/f0°cf- 

L Js£w.99S,000  M\/?>300k[ 

H...970 , OOOKiis  1 PAR  4 irv"RA' 

F... 760. OOOHi/s ^ 1 rAKAUlBA 
Hu.  689,  OOOHi/s , 

Cot3  ^^£34pernam  BUCO 


f I/S  A^j>L 

'$10  GK.^DK'Xat 

DO  NORTE  \ 


atal 


J.A60AS 


GOYAZ 

, T... 170, OOOHils)  BAHIA 

Rn  n?  2 rnuii  [C 0.28, 480, OOOHfF.  /, 500,  OOOK, 
nu.  /3H,  HUUHHsW  25J00, OOOHGS .611 ,600 Kits 

C. . . .80,000  fd.3, 136,  OpOH\Cof.l8l, SOpKjti 


Recife 


cor./o/,  ouun/i. 

!u  rn  nnnrsr  I RuJ  ,990,OCOH  C»./3J, 600 Hn 
-JO,  OOOHils  ) f .j,  600,000k  S. 70, 860  Ha 


KC....S,  OOOHils, 

' 8 H,  OOO Hi/ 

[h...  .3,  SOOK/s 


laceio 


jS.EA.UL0 


Cof.2S2.  OOO OOO 
rb.OOi 


" Be.  2S0  OOt 


ANA 

960.000/. 

> ,8  OOHi/s 
\ OOOHi/s 


. -—NAS  GERAES1 

ICof.  !RO,  OOO,  OOO  Hits 
M- . . JO,  OOO, OOOHi/s 
8 ... .5,200,  OOOHi/s 
\Ch...  4 ,600,  OOO  Hi/s 
'HW. . .4,600,  OOOHi/s 
\--4, 500, OOOHi/s 
W---3  , 500,000 H/s  /ESPmtTO 
Be..  2,  Soo,OOOH,lsf**j£rl't 
P....I  ,79  0,  OOOHls/  SANTO 
Bu.  900,  OOOHi/s  ' 

H. . .4  00,  OOOH/s 
,Hu.  J 0(J, OOOHi/s, 

-,2co,ooo^,ow 


.racaju 

Salvador  

'S  ..  .8, 500,  OOOHils 


I GS... 560,  OOOH/s 
[Cot.. 4/0,  OOOH/s 
\F... 2 74,  600 H/s 


/ I n i go,  c 

(-5. . . .785, 500  Ht/s 
IH...62/,  600 Hi/s 


\Cot.2O0,  OOOHi/s 


rictori. 


Cod. .32 3,  OOO  H,/s 

..43 ,600  H,/s 


//-.S,  OOO , OOO  H,/s 
<3-  2.3 . OOO,  OOO  H/s 
Cot. 2,  300,  OOO  H/s 

I F! 460,  OOO  Hi/s 

T /80,  OOOH/s 


VTA 


Santos 
Cananea 
^Antonina 
"aragiagua' 


Alio  de  Janeiro 


’ At  3- 

HMINATrancisco 


UL\ 

i xi/s' 
>/r,/s 


Mt.  5,700,  000  Hi/s 
.F/..  3,400,  OOO  Hi/s 
\Cof...947,000  Hi  Is 
5 ....930,000  H,/s 
/?....  780  , OOO  H,/s 

„ i Ba . . . 700 , OOO  Bunches 

lonanapohs  | Bu-  ■ . . 600,  OOO  Hi/s 
rTaenna  \~---.300 , OOO  Hi/s 

Laguna  240,  OOO  Hi/s 


1/f1  Porto  Alegre 


BRAZILIAN  TERMS 


Alagoano:  native  of  Alagoas.  Native  of  Amazonas  State,  ama- 
zonense.  Native  of  Bahia,  bahiano;  of  Ceara,  cearensc;  of 
Espirito  Santo,  espirito-santense;  of  Goyaz,  goyano;  of  Maran- 
hao,  maranhense;  of  Matto  Grosso,  matto-grossense;  of  Minas 
Geraes,  mineiro;  of  Para,  paraense;  of  Parana,  paranaense;  of 
Piauhy,  piauhyense;  of  Parahyba,  parahybano;  of  Pernambuco, 
pernambucano;  of  Sao  Paulo,  paulista;  of  Santa  Catharina, 
catharinense;  of  Rio  Grande  do  Norte  and  Rio  Grande  do  Sul, 
Tiogranden.se  do  norte,  or  riogranden.se  do  sul;  of  Sergipe,  sergi- 
pano.  A native  of  the  north  is  a nortista;  of  the  south,  a sulista; 
of  Brazil,  in  general,  brasileiro. 

Aviador:  properly,  aviator,  but  has  special  meaning  on  the  Amazon; 
is  applied  to  the  dealer  who  supplies  the  seringaes  with 
outfit  and  food  for  the  season,  and  who  purchases  the  rubber 
crop.  The  aviado  is  the  customer  of  the  aviador. 

Bateia:  bowl  for  washing  out  placer  gold. 

Borracha:  any  kind  of  rubber  in  Brazilian;  the  term  goma  is  also 
sometimes  used,  but  applied  only  to  latex  of  hevea  brasiliensis. 

Bracos:  lit.  “arms,”  that  is,  labourers;  hands. 

Cabotagem:  Brazilian  navigation,  whether  coastal  or  riverine. 

Caipira:  countryman  from  the  south — “hayseed.”  The  equivalent 
type  from  the  north  is  a matuto. 

Capoeira:  second  growth  of  vegetation  after  land  has  been  cleared. 
Also  applied  to  kind  of  basket  made  of  native  grass;  also  to 
the  Brazilian  equivalent  to  jiu-jit-su;  genuine  capoeira  adepts 
have  remarkable  muscular  control.  The  term  capoeira  is  also 
applied  to  a certain  dance. 

Capim:  grass  (plural,  capins)  of  different  kinds,  as  capirn  gordura, 
capim  panasco,  capim  sertao,  etc. 

Carioca:  native  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  City — from  the  Carioca  fountain, 
once  fashionable  centre  of  city. 

Carreiro:  by-path  of  the  interior. 

Colono:  labourer  imported,  whether  from  another  country  or  a 
sister  State. 


326  BRAZILIAN  TERMS 

Conto:  (of  reis);  one  thousand  milreis,  or  1,000,000  reis.  In  paper, 
worth  normally  over  £66,  but  since  European  War  value 
fluctuates  about  £50,  or  say  $250. 

Engenho:  sugar  mill. 

Estrada  de  Ferro:  railroad;  Rede  ferroviario,  railway  system,  lit. 
“net”  of  railways. 

Fazenda:  in  South,  any  farm  or  estate  of  coffee,  cacao,  cattle,  etc.; 
in  north  more  exclusively  applied  to  cattle  farm.  Fazendeiro, 
farmer  or  estate  owner. 

Fallencia:  failure,  bankruptcy. 

Farinha:  flour.  — de  mandioca,  of  two  kinds  “white”  and  “yel- 
low,” made  from  root  of  one  of  the  Euphorbias. 

Feijao:  beans,  red,  black  or  white,  universal  Brazilian  iood;feijoada, 
special  dish  made  with  beans,  dried  meat,  pepper,  mandioca 
flour,  etc. 

Flagellados:  lit.  “the  scourged,”  applied  to  people  from  the  northern 
drought  districts. 

Fluminense:  native  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  State,  from  Lat.  flumen, 
river;  Portuguese  discoverers  thought  Rio  Bay  mouth  of  a 
river,  and  so  named  it  “River  of  January.”  There  is  no  river, 
but  the  name  remains,  and  the  fluminenses  are  proud  to  call 
themselves  “river  folk.” 

Frigorifico:  cold  storage,  properly;  applied  to  packing-houses  also. 

Gaiola:  properly,  cage;  also  applied  to  small  open  boats  traversing 
Amazonian  fluvial  network. 

Garimpeiros:  diamond  hunters  of  Brazilian  interior. 

Herva:  lit.  herb:  applied  to  the  leaf  of  ilex  paraguayensis,  known  in 
Brazil  as  herva  matte  and  in  Spanish  America  as  yerba  mate. 
Herval,  forest  of  trees  from  which  leaf  is  obtained:  pi.  hervaes. 

Matadouro:  slaughterhouse. 

Matto:  wild  Brazilian  woodland:  matteiro,  expert  forester. 

Modxnha:  Brazilian  folk-song:  term  fado  also  used. 

Parecer:  lit.  opinion;  generally  applied  to  views  given  upon  public 
matters  by  eminent  men. 

Paroara:  person  going  from  another  district  to  work  in  the  Amazon 
rubber  country. 

Paula:  rate  of  export  tax;  changed  frequently  in  response  to  inter- 
national market  prices  for  such  Braz.  goods  as  cacao,  rubber, 
tobacco,  sugar,  etc. 


BRAZILIAN  TERMS 


327 


Patrao:  owner  or  manager  of  estate  or  business. 

Pelle:  ball  of  rubber  made  by  seringueiros. 

Praieiro:  one  who  lives  by  the  praia,  or  shore. 

Rebanho:  stock  of  animals,  herd  or  flock. 

Regatao:  row-boats  of  petty  traders  upon  Amazonian  waterways. 

Resaca:  violent  wave-movement,  often  seen  in  Rio  and  Recife, 
when  a receding  meets  an  oncoming  wave  and  water  is  thrown 
up;  resacas  along  the  Rio  sea-front  often  throw  spray  sixty 
feet  into  the  air. 

Romaria:  pilgrimage  made  by  religious-minded  to  the  places  where 
there  are  churches  containing  images  of  special  devotion. 

Safra:  time  of  harvest;  the  crop  yield  is  the  colheita. 

Seringa:  gum  of  hevea  brasiliensis;  seringueira,  rubber  tree;  serin- 
gueiro,  man  who  collects  rubber;  seringal,  rubber  district  in 
forest — pi.  seringaes. 

Serra : mountain  range;  serro,  small  hill.  ( Montanha , mountain.) 

Sertao:  Brazilian  interior;  pi.  sertoes.  Sertanejo,  sertanista,  one  who 
dwells  in  the  sertao. 

Tropa:  troop — generally  of  mules,  used  for  cargo  carrying  in  in- 
terior of  central  and  northern  states;  term  also  used  in  original 
sense  of  military  regiment  or  battalion;  tropeiro,  the  conductor 
of  a troop  of  cargo  mules  or  other  animals. 

Vaqueiro:  (from  vaca , cow) — employee  specially  employed  upon 
stock-breeding  estates.  Compare  with  gaucho,  the  cowboy 
of  the  South. 


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^•arranged  by  Dr.  Miguel  Calmon 
for  the  Brazilian  Government 

^ TRANSLATION  OF  BRAZILIAN  TERMS 

Fdz  do  Rio  Amazonas  = Mouth  of  the  River  Amazon 
Linha  = Line  i.e.,  Linha  de  Nova  York  = S.S.  Line  from  New  York 
Serra  = Mountain  Cordilheira  = Mountain  range  Rio  = River- 


Oceano  Pacmco=  Pacific  Ocean;  Oceano  Atlantico  = Atlantic  Ocean 
National  Capitals  ★ Capitals  of  States  ® Cities  -> 

Railroads  in  use - 

Railroads  under  construction  or  projected — 


INDEX 


A 

A.  B.  C.  Treaty,  120-122. 

Acre  Territory,  194,  204,  324. 
AfFonso  Penna,  81;  colony,  71. 
Agricultural  methods,  256,  257. 
Agua-marinhas,  260. 

Aguas  Virtuosas,  315. 

Alagoas,  39,  151,  271,  297,  324. 
Alagoinhas,  150. 

Albuquerque,  Jeronymo,  37. 
Alcobaga,  155. 

Alto  da  Serra,  130. 

Alves,  Rodrigues,  81,  106,  174. 
Amazonas,  State,  180-234,  29 7,  313, 
319- 

Amazon  river,  161,  162;  basin,  3,  73; 
rubber  industry,  180-234;  Naviga- 
tion company,  161. 

Anchieta,  Jose  de,  22. 

Aparta^ao  do  gado,  85. 

Aracaju,  150,  15 1,  324. 

Araguary,  141. 

Araguaya,  155. 

Aramina  fibre,  253. 

Arantes,  Dr.  Altino,  70,  139;  also  see 
footnote  to  p.  144. 

Araxa,  315. 

Area  of  States,  324. 

Argentina,  5;  railways,  135,  138,  158; 

sugar,  243;  trade  with  Brazil,  321. 
Atalaia,  151. 

Automobile  roads,  127,  128. 
Auxiliaire  railway,  137. 

Avenida  Paulista,  67,  127. 

Avenida  Rio  Branco,  105. 

Aviador,  198,  199. 


B 

Babassu,  274. 

Bacharel,  Bacharelismo,  83. 

Baependy,  Visconde  de,  61. 

Bahia,  city  (Sao  Salvador),  settle- 
ment, 18,  19;  captaincy-general, 
36;  Dutch  seizure,  38,  39,  40,  44; 
Dom  Joao,  50;  negroes,  82; 
churches,  91;  tobacco,  247. 

Bahia,  State,  colonies,  60,  61;  mule 
troops,  86;  roads,  128;  railroads, 
130,  150;  coffee,  178;  debt,  297; 
tobacco,  245,  246,  247;  cacao  in- 
dustry, 254-256;  oranges,  258; 
mines,  259,  260,  262;  factories,  265, 
270;  exports,  319. 

Banco  do  Brasil,  51. 

Bandeiras,  25-33. 

Bangu  factory,  272. 

Banks,  foreign  and  Brazilian,  303- 
305;  British,  capital,  290;  National 
City,  296. 

Barbosa,  Ruy,  99,  106. 

Barra,  32. 

Barra  do  Cordoba,  153. 

Barreiros,  151. 

Barretos,  packing  house  at,  140,  21 1, 

212. 

Bartholomeu  Bueno  da  Silva,  32. 

Belem  (Para),  153,  298.  See  Para. 

Bello  Horizonte,  141,  144,  261,  298. 

Bern  Fica,  147. 

Berrogain  & Cia,  207. 

Berwind  Coal  Co.,  165,  296,  322. 

Betun  or  petum  (tobacco),  245. 

Bicho,  87,  88. 


33° 


INDEX 


Bilac,  Olavo,  99,  100. 

Blumeneau  of  Brunswick,  Herr,  58; 
town,  138. 

Bolivia,  railway  links,  135. 

Bom  Successo,  70. 

Borba  Gato,  31. 

Borda  do  Campo,  22. 

Brack,  291. 

Braganza,  153. 

Branco  river,  159,  202. 

Braz  Cubas,  22. 

Braz,  Dr.  Wenceslao,  54,  156. 

Braz  (suburb  of  S.  Paulo),  268. 
Brazil,  discovery  of,  11-14;  name,  15; 
capitanias,  17,  18,  19;  export  of  to- 
bacco, 247;  nuts,  274,  3 1 1. 

Brazil  Railway  Co.,  137,  142,  143, 
297- 

Brazil-wood,  15,  20,  41,  46. 

British  investment,  287-290. 

Bureau  in  Paris,  103,  175. 

C 

Cabedello,  152. 

Caboclo,  4. 

Cabotagem,  123,  150. 

Cabral,  Captain,  14. 

Cacao,  culture  and  export,  254-258. 
Cacequy,  137. 

Cachafa,  241. 

Cachoeiras  (Itapemirim),  146. 

Caete,  48. 

Cai-Uby,  23. 

Caixa  de  Conversao,  172,  277,  278, 
279. 

Cajazeiros,  153. 

Calmon,  Dr.  Miguel,  193,  229,  272. 
Cameta,  48. 

Caminho  do  Padre  Jose,  125. 
Camocim,  152. 

Campinas,  141,  273. 


Campos,  146,  147,  241,  290. 

Campos  Salles  colony,  69. 

Cananea,  64. 

Cannavieiras,  64. 

Cantareira  Tramway,  139;  ferries, 
147- 

Cape  St.  Augustine,  11. 

Capitanias,  17,  18,  19,  36. 

Caracu  cattle,  217,  218. 

Caramaru,  18;  town,  140. 

Caravellas,  149,  159. 

Carbonados  (diamonds),  259. 

Cardoso  de  Almeida,  158. 

Careta,  85. 

Carioca  cotton  mill,  290. 

Carnauba  wax,  152,  318. 

Carvalho,  Dr.  Daniel  de,  270. 

Castilloa  elastica,  182,  202,  203. 

Catalao,  141. 

Cattle,  40;  introduction,  208;  in- 
dustry, 209-219. 

Cattley,  William,  309. 

Caxambu,  315. 

Caxias,  153,  155,  249. 

Ceara,  capitania  of,  19,  86;  droughts 
in,  152;  railways,  152;  labour  from, 
184,  197,  198;  cattle,  218;  lace,  254, 
274;  factories,  271;  debt,  297;  ex- 
ports, 319;  area,  324. 

Central  Railway,  141,  144,  145,  146, 
261. 

Centro  Industrial,  227,  271,  272. 

Cereals,  248-252. 

Chaves,  Alfredo,  colony  of,  249 

Cincinato  Braga,  217. 

Ciudad  Real,  23,  24,  28. 

Clarke’s  shoe  factories,  290. 

Class  distinctions,  79,  80. 

Climate,  contrasts,  4;  variety  of  soil 
and  climate,  6;  suited  to  immi- 
grants, 73;  effect  on  roads,  128, 
216,  217,  248,  274. 


INDEX 


33i 


Coal,  used,  146;  mining,  263. 

Coats’  cotton  mill,  290. 

Coconut  oil  factory,  275. 

Coelho,  Duarte,  14,  15,  20. 

Coffee  drinking,  88. 

Coffee  industry,  167-180;  coffee  ex- 
ports, 175. 

Colonization,  Ch.  2,  p.  56. 

Columbus,  13. 

Commerce,  exterior,  316. 
Commerciantes,  81. 

Companhia  de  Via?ao  S.  Paulo-Mat- 
to  Grossi,  136. 

Companhia  do  Commercio  do  Brazil, 
42. 

Companhia  Frigorifica  e Pastoril,  140. 
Comtists,  91. 

Conde  d’Eu  railway,  151. 

Conference,  228,  270. 

Conquista,  149. 

Conspiracy  of  Minas,  49. 

Copaiva,  (Copahyba),  39,  313. 
Corcovado,  4. 

Correia  de  Sa,  44. 

Corsairs,  35. 

Corumba,  railway  to,  135,  136. 

Cory  Coal  Co.,  165,  290,  322. 
Cotton,  raw,  export  of,  226,  227; 
weaving,  268-273;  industry,  219- 
234- 

Court  of  Cartago,  121,  122. 

Couto  de  Magalhaes,  108. 

Cozinha  bahiana,  108. 

Cratheus,  152. 

Cruz,  Dr.  Oswaldo,  106,  195. 
Cubatao,  old  road  to,  126;  dye  fac- 
tory, 273. 

Curityba,  68,  127,  133,  139,  235. 
Curralinho,  144. 

Currency,  system,  281,  282. 
Curvello,  144. 

Cuyaba,  33,  46,  159,  160,  324. 


D 

Defesa  da  Borracha,  193,  206. 
Diamantina,  33,  144. 

Diamonds,  259,  317. 

Dois  Irmaos  Mountains,  117. 

Dom  Joao,  50. 

Dom  Pedro  I,  51. 

Dom  Pedro  II,  52,  53. 

Dona  Anna  Pimentel,  208. 
Donatarios,  19,  44. 

Dona  Thereza  (colony  in  Para),  58. 
Drugs,  3 1 1,  314. 

Duarte  Coelho,  14,  15,  20. 

Duder,  290. 

Dumont  coffee  estates,  168. 

Dutch,  seizure  of  coast,  35;  West 
India  Co.,  38;  establishment  in 
Pernambuco,  38-41;  result  of  occu- 
pation, 42. 

Dutra,  Dr.  Firma,  136. 

Dyes,  272,  273. 

E 

Education,  115-118. 

Electric  power,  Paulo  Affonso  falls, 
155;  used  for  manufacturing,  265, 
270;  falls  available,  273. 

Elpidio  de  Salles,  157. 

Emancipated  colonies,  71. 
Emboabas,  Guerra  dos,  47. 

Empire  established,  52;  abolished,  53. 
Engenho  Novo,  60. 

Entradas,  24,  25. 

Erechim,  72. 

Esperanza,  Porto,  136. 

Espirito  Santo  State,  mines,  30;  early 
history,  36,  43;  colonies,  60,  61,  62, 
71;  railroads,  148,  149;  coffee,  178; 
monazite  sands,  262;  factories,  271; 
debt,  291,  292. 

Esta^ao  da  Luz,  13 1. 


332 


INDEX 


Estacio  de  Sa,  44. 

Estrella,  62,  63. 

Euclydes  da  Cunha,  193. 

Export  taxes  of  States,  302,  303. 
External  debts  of  States  and  Cities, 
291,  292. 

F 

Fabrica  da  Pedra,  155. 
Fabric-weaving  mills  in  all  Brazil, 
268-269. 

Factories  in  Sao  Paulo,  265,  267,  268, 
269. 

Falls  in  exchange,  283,  284. 
Farquhar,  interests,  142-144,  162, 
173- 

Federal  debts,  299,  300,  301. 

Federal  District,  270,  271,  291, 
298. 

Federal  revenues,  302. 

Feijo,  Father  Diogo,  52,  129. 

Feira  dos  bizerros,  85. 

Fernando  Noronha,  15. 

Fernao  Dias,  29,  30,  31. 

Festas,  92,  93. 

Fibres,  252,  253,  254. 

Fibres  used  by  natives,  Iio. 

Finance,  276. 

Finger  of  God,  4. 

Florianopolis,  6,  324. 

Folklore,  92,  108. 

Formosa,  145. 

Fortaleza,  6,  152,  324. 

France  Antarctique,  43. 

French  investment,  286,  292,  293; 

early  settlements,  17,  37,  38. 
French  trade,  321. 

Frey  Tiburcio,  101. 

Frontin,  145,  159. 

Fruits,  258. 

Funilense  Railway,  139. 

Future  colonization,  73,  74,  75. 


G 

Garanhuns,  151. 

Gardner,  Dr.  George,  308,  309. 
Gaviao  Peixoto,  69. 

“General  Mines,”  124. 

German  investment,  293. 

Germans,  colonization,  57-62;  in- 
fluence and  language,  117,  118. 
Goeldi,  Dr.  Emil,  229. 

Gold  mines,  discovery,  30,  32,  33,  45, 
46. 

Gold  mines  in  operation,  259. 
Gonsalves,  Dias,  100. 

Good  manners,  Brazilian,  76,  77. 
Goodyear  Tire  Co.,  206. 

Gordon,  John,  262. 

Goyana  tribes,  29. 

Goyaz,  2,  26,  27,  32,  44,  73,  141,  160, 
161,  324. 

Goytacdzes,  Capitania,  48. 

Graciosa  road,  127. 

Granja,  152. 

Grao  Para,  44. 

Grass  lands,  214,  215,  216. 

Great  Western  of  Brazil  railway,  130, 
149,  151,  152. 

Green,  Dr.  Edward,  222,  228. 
“Green  Sea  of  Darkness,”  12. 
Guanabara,  Alcindo,  193;  Bay,  126. 
Guarana,  313. 

Guarany  nucleo,  72. 

Guayara,  24. 

Guayra  falls,  273. 

Gymnasio  Anglo-Brazileiro,  117. 

H 

Hamburg,  “Colonizing  Union  of,” 

59- 

Hammocks,  253. 

Hansa,  138. 

Henry,  the  Navigator,  12. 


INDEX 


333 


Herkmann,  Elias,  39. 

Herva  matte  outlet,  133;  industry, 
234-238. 

Hevea  brasiliensis,  181;  seeds  taken 
by  Wickham,  188;  varieties,  194. 
Hide  exports,  218,  219. 

Highroads,  1 24-1 29. 

Horsemanship,  skill  in,  86. 

Huber,  Dr.  Jacques,  229. 

Huguenots,  43,  44. 

I 

Icelanders,  62. 

Iguape,  63,  64;  footnote  on  140. 
Iguassu  falls,  273. 

Iguatu,  152. 

Ilha  de  Johannes,  48. 

Ilheos,  6,  43,  48,  149. 

Imbatuba,  138. 

Immigration  table,  72;  See  coloniza- 
tion; effect  on  Brazilian  society, 
78.  79- 

Imperial  road  to  Petropolis,  126. 
Imports,  322,  323. 

Imposto  do  Consumo,  266. 
Independence,  52. 

Indians,  109-113. 

Inglotina,  272. 

Inheritance  of  French  ideas,  77. 
Investment,  285. 

Ipecacuanha,  39,  312. 

Iquitos,  162. 

Iron  deposits,  261. 

Isabel,  Princess,  53,  80. 

Itabira  (iron),  261. 

Itacoatiara,  162. 

Itajahy,  63. 

Italian  immigrants,  66,  67. 
Itamaraca,  41,  48. 

Itanhaen,  footnote  on,  140. 
Itapemirim,  146. 

Itapura,  135,  137,  162. 


Itatiaya,  mountain,  3. 

Itu,  College  at,  49. 

Ivahy,  71. 

J 

Jaborandi,  39,  313. 

“Jacare  Assu”,  62. 

Japanese  colony  in  Sao  Paulo,  70,  71. 
Jaragua,  151. 

Jardim  Botanico,  229. 

Jatoba,  155. 

Jesuino  Marcondes  colony,  71. 
Jesuits,  22-25,  28,  33,  34,  48,  111;  old 
Jesuit  road,  125,  126. 

Joao  Alfredo,  81. 

Joao  Pinheiro,  72. 

Joazeiro,  railway  to,  130;  steamboats 
touching  at,  144. 

Joinville  (Dona  Francesca)  58,  59, 
138. 

Jornal  do  Commercio,  9,  101,  102, 
103. 

Jorge  Tibirifa  colony,  69. 

Jose  do  Patrocinio,  108. 

Juiz  da  Fora,  125. 

Jupia,  137. 

Juquia,  64. 

K 

Kapok  (paina),  252,  253. 

L 

Labour,  origin  and  locality,  82. 
Lace-making,  254,  274. 

Lagoa  dos  Patos,  117,  137,  163. 
Laguna  Mirim,  238. 

Lambary,  315. 

Land  for  immigrants,  73. 

Langgard,  Dr.  T.  J.  H.,  313. 

Lauro  Muller  colony,  138. 
Leopoldina  Railway,  130,  146,  147. 


334 


INDEX 


Light  and  Power  companies,  273, 
296. 

Literature,  97,  98,  99. 

Lloyd  Brasileiro,  162,  163,  164. 
Loddiges,  309. 

Lotteries,  public,  87. 

Lundgren,  231. 

M 

Macahe,  146. 

Macau,  274. 

Macedo,  J.  M.  de,  79,  98,  99. 
Maceio,  6,  15 1. 

Mackenzie  College,  116. 
Madeira-Mamore,  136,  142,  154, 

292,  293. 

Maize  (milho),  251,  252. 

Malho,  journal,  83. 

Mamelucos,  18,  25. 

Manaos,  3,6,  105,  159,  162,  185,  186, 
187,  192,  197,  201-2,  298. 
Mandioca,  84,  252. 

Mangabeira,  182,  185. 

Manganese,  261,  262,  317,  318. 
Mangrove,  dye  from,  272. 

Manitoba  rubber,  152,  182. 
Mantiqueira  mountains,  3. 
Manufactures,  264-275. 

Mappin,  289,  290. 

Maranhao,  33,  37,  42,  44,  48,  49,  60, 
86;  railways,  153;  coffee,  178;  fac- 
tories, 270;  babassu  nuts,  274. 
Marcgrav,  39,  307,  313. 

Maribondo  falls,  273. 

Martim  Affonso,  18,  21. 

Martinho  Prado  colony,  70. 

Martius,  3,  307. 

Matarazzo,  248. 

Match  industry,  264. 

Matte  (Herva),  68,  234-238,  318. 
Matto  Grosso,  2;  first  entries,  26,  27; 
captaincy,  44;  sertoes,  78;  rail- 


ways, 135,  139,  160,  161;  export 
taxes,  303. 

Medicinal  plants,  31 1-3 14. 

Mem  de  Sa,  23,  43. 

Mercantile  Marine,  166. 

Mestizos,  82. 

Metayer  system,  61. 

Milho,  (maize),  251,  252. 

Mills,  flour,  251;  sugar,  241;  fabric 
weaving,  founded  in  Para  and  Mar- 
anhao, 224;  in  Minas,  225;  Petrop- 
olis,  264;  S.  Paulo,  265-8;  all  Bra- 
zil, 268-272;  cotton  mill  near  Per- 
nambuco, 231-233. 

Minas  Geraes,  products,  6;  early 
foundations,  26,  30,  44,  47;  coloni- 
zation, 71;  roads,  127;  coffee  and 
cotton,  178;  cattle  lands,  216,  218; 
cotton  weaving,  225;  iron  deposits, 
148, 161 ; gold  mines,  259;  factories, 
269,  271;  debt,  298;  exports,  319. 

Mucury,  59. 

N 

Nabuco,  Joaquim,  106. 

Nassau,  Prince  John  Maurice  of,  39. 

Natal,  152,  324. 

Native  races,  109-114. 

Naviga^ao  Bahiana,  150,  162. 

Nazareth,  150,  162. 

Negroes,  first  introduced,  37,  82; 
slavery  abolished,  53;  eminent 
men,  108,  109. 

Negro  river,  159,  185,  202. 

Newspapers,  101-105. 

Nictheroy,  147,  324. 

Nine  principal  export  articles,  318, 
319. 

Nossa  Senhora  d’O,  60. 

Nova  Europa,  69. 

Nova  Friburgo,  57,  147. 

Nova  Lusitania,  20. 


INDEX 


335 


Nova  Odessa,  68. 

Nova  Veneza,  69. 

Novels,  98,  99. 

Nucleos,  58-72. 

O 

Obidos,  162. 

Ojeda,  Alonzo  de,  13. 

Olinda,  38,  91,  231,  244. 

Oliveira,  Alberto  de,  100. 

Oranges  of  Bahia,  258. 

Orchids,  309,  310. 

Orgao  mountains,  4. 

Orellana,  16. 

Osasco,  packing  plant,  143,  21 1, 
212. 

Ouro  Preto,  46,  124,  259. 

P 

Packing-houses,  210-21 2. 

Pages,  ill,  1 12. 

Paina  (kapok  fibre),  252-3. 

Paper  money  in  circulation,  281,  282. 

Para  City  (Belem);  foundation,  19; 
settlements,  37;  Jesuits,  48;  news- 
papers, 105;  schools,  1 16;  shipping, 
162;  cofFee,  178;  modern  works, 
185;  rubber,  192,  197,  201;  debt, 
298. 

Parahyba,  41,  241,  271. 

Paranagua,  133. 

Paranapanema  river,  140. 

Parana  river,  23,  27,  124,  126,  136, 
162. 

Parana  State,  immigrants,  62,  68,  71; 
land,  73;  matte  forests,  133;  rail- 
ways, 138,  139;  pine  forests,  235; 
coal,  263;  factories,  271;  debts, 
291;  exports,  319. 

Para  State,  4;  Portuguese  colonies, 
60;  imports,  196;  nut  export,  274; 
debt,  298;  exports,  319. 


Paraty,  138. 

Parceria  system,  61. 

Parnahyba  river,  155. 

Pastures,  215,  216,  218. 

Patronato  Agricola,  67,  169. 

Paulista,  Railway,  140. 

Paulo  Affonso  falls,  124;  railway  line, 
IS5- 

Pauta,  (export  tax  rate),  203. 

Pe^anha,  60. 

Pedra  Preta,  152. 

Pelotas,  298. 

Pernambuco,  17,  19,  20,  128,  129, 
137,  241;  319;  Dutch  control,  38- 
41;  land,  73;  labour,  82;  tropeiros, 
86;  churches,  91;  industries,  265, 
271;  cotton  cloth  factory,  230-232; 
sugar,  244. 

Petropolis,  58,  126,  127,  147,  264, 
270,  273,  290. 

Piassava,  fibre,  254. 

Piauhy,  153,  155,  241,  271,  324. 

Pineapples,  258,  311. 

Pinto,  Dr.  Costa,  273. 

Pinzon,  11. 

Piquery  River,  23. 

Piracicaba,  school,  63,  64;  sugar  mill, 
217,  242;  agricultural  college,  257. 

Piranhas,  155. 

Pirapora,  144,  145. 

Piso,  39,  307,  312,  313. 

Pita,  fibre,  253. 

Plantation  rubber,  first  experiments, 
189,  190,  191;  tax  on,  204. 

Plants  sent  to  Europe  from  Brazil, 
306-314. 

Poets,  Brazilian,  99,  100. 

Pombal,  Marquis  of,  45,  47,  48, 
224. 

Ponta  da  Areia,  149. 

Ponta  Grossa,  138,  139. 

Population,  55;  separate  states,  324. 


336 


INDEX 


Porto  Alegre,  6,  298,  324. 

Porto  Seguro,  14,  48;  Visconde  de 
(Varnhagen,  historian),  47,  106. 

Ports  opened  to  world  commerce,  50; 
modern  port  works,  54. 

Pottery,  Marajo,  109,  no. 

Prado,  Conselheiro  Antonio,  140. 

Praia  Formosa,  147. 

Press,  100-105;  first  established,  50. 

Putz,  Theodore,  207. 

Q 

Quedas,  Sete,  273. 

Queimados,  130. 

Queiros,  Luis  de,  19. 

R 

Railroads,  construction,  129;  Great 
Western,  130,  151,  152;  S.  Paulo 
Railway,  131-133;  Paranagua,  133; 
links  with  other  republics,  135, 
136;  Northwestern,  135,  136;  Rio 
Grande,  137;  Santa  Catharina,  139; 
in  S.  Paulo,  139-141;  Minas,  144; 
from  Rio,  146,  147;  Espirito  Santo, 
148,  149;  Bahia,  149,  150;  Sergipe, 
150;  Pernambuco,  151,  152;  other 
northern  States,  152,  153;  Para, 
153;  Madeira  Mamore,  154;  lines 
passing  falls,  154,  155;  operation 
systems,  156,  157;  Federal  and 
private  control,  157,  158;  railways 
projected,  159-161. 

Raiz  da  Serra,  130. 

Ramalho,  Joao,  18,  21. 

Rapadura,  241. 

Raposo,  Antonio,  27-29. 

Recife,  105,  151,  298. 

Religion,  89-92. 

Republica  de  Piritinim,  58. 

Republic  inaugurated,  53. 


Ribeiro,  Joao,  27,  28. 

Riberao  Preto,  141. 

Rio  Branco,  Barao  de,  1 19;  Visconde 
de,  81,  106. 

Rio  de  Janeiro  city,  4,  5,  6,  43,  44,  50, 
Si,  54.  76,  85,  97,  104,  127,  137, 
260. 

Rio  de  Janeiro  State,  60;  sugar-grow- 
ing, 244;  factories,  265. 

Rio  Grande  do  Norte,  41,  86,  241, 
271,  298. 

Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  Spanish  in,  25, 
47;  colonization,  72;  land,  73; 
wine,  88;  Germans,  117,  1 1 8;  rail- 
ways, 137,  138;  docks,  138;  pas- 
tures, 141;  tobacco,  246,  248; 
wheat,  248-251;  coal,  263;  exports, 
320;  Rio  Grande  city,  137. 

Rio  Negro,  colony  in  Parana,  58,  138, 
139;  Negro  River,  159,  185,  202. 

Rio  Pardo  colony,  62. 

Rocha  Pombo,  26. 

Romero,  Sylvio,  107,  108. 

Roncador,  141. 

Rondon,  Colonel  Candido,  48,  106, 
1 12,  129,  273. 

Rodrigues,  Jose  Carlos,  106. 

Rua  do  Ouvidor,  105. 

Rubber,  180-208;  table  of  prices, 
188;  world’s  crop,  205;  factories, 
206,  207. 

Russian  settlers,  68,  72;  carters  of 
Parana,  129. 

s 

Sahara  mines,  31. 

Sabauna,  70. 

Salt  industry,  274. 

Salto  Grande,  line  to,  136. 

Salutaris,  3 15. 

Sampaio,  historian,  26. 

Santa  Anna  do  Livramento,  141. 


INDEX 


337 


Santa  Barbara,  64,  65. 

Santa  Catharina,  land,  73 ; roads,  1 28; 
railways,  138,  141;  cereals,  249; 
coal  mines,  263;  factories,  270; 
debt,  298. 

Santa  Isabel,  colony,  58. 

Santarem,  64,  159,  162. 

Santo  Andre,  22,  23. 

Santos,  133. 

Sao  Bernardo,  22,  70. 

Sao  Felix,  150,  247. 

Sao  Francisco,  river,  gold  miners’ 
route,  46,  124;  projected  railway, 
129;  railway  passing  falls,  155. 

Sao  Joao  del  Rey  mine,  259. 

Sao  Leopoldo,  colony,  57. 

Sao  Lourenfo,  315. 

Sao  Luis,  153. 

Sao  Luiz,  324. 

Sao  Paulo,  City,  6;  settlement,  18, 19, 
23,  28,  29,  32,  34;  wealth,  67;  social 
life,  97;  newspapers,  104;  schools, 
115,  1 16,  1 17;  Pure  Coffee  Com- 
pany, 179;  railroads,  131,  132,  133, 
135,  137,  141,  145;  factories,  265, 
267,  268,  269. 

Sao  Paulo  State,  5,  6;  early  history, 
18,  19,  21-35,  44.  46;  colonization 
system,  68-71;  education,  115- 
1 17;  coffee  industry,  168-180;  su- 
gar, 244;  manufacturing  taxes, 
267;  industries,  269-273;  debts, 
291,  298;  exports,  319. 

Sao  Pedro  de  Alcantara,  57. 

Sao  Salvador  (Bahia),  149. 

Sao  Sebastiao  (Rio  de  Janeiro),  44, 
149. 

Sao  Vicente,  settlement,  18,  22;  sack- 
ing. 35 ; 43.  48- 

Sapucaia  nuts,  274. 

Schmidt,  Francisco,  168. 

Schools  and  Colleges,  116,  117. 


Semi-precious  stones,  260. 

Sergipe,  150,  241,  269,  271,  324. 
Seringueiro,  cost  of  outfit,  197. 

Serra  Doirada,  32. 

Serra  do  Mar,  125,  126,  128,  130- 
133- 

Serrinha,  139. 

Serro  Frio,  30. 

Sertanejo,  84,  85. 

Sertanistas,  28. 

Sertao,  25. 

Sete  Lagoas,  144. 

Sete  Quedas,  273. 

Shipping,  161-166. 

Silk  industry,  264. 

Silva,  60. 

Sinimbu,  60,  63. 

Skins,  export,  318,  319. 

Sloper,  291. 

Solis,  16. 

Sorocabana,  railway,  136,  139. 
Souza,  Eloy  de,  192, 195, 199;  Affonso 
de,  18,  21. 

Spanish  rule,  35,  36. 

Stage,  100. 

State  Debts,  297,  298. 

States,  shares  in  export  trade,  319, 
320;  area  and  population,  324. 
Steamship  lines,  164,  165;  British, 
290. 

Stevenson,  290. 

St.  John’s  Day  observances,  92. 
Sugar,  238-245;  mills,  241;  export, 
243. 

Sumidouro  mines,  29,  30. 

Swiss  settlers,  56. 

T 

Tamoyo  Indians,  21,  43. 

Tapajoz  river,  64,  159,  162,  188. 
Taunay,  Visconde  de,  98. 

Taxes  upon  industries,  267. 


338 


INDEX 


Terms,  Brazilian,  325-327. 

“Terra  dos  Papagaios”  15. 

Thereza  Christina  railway,  144. 
Therezina,  324. 

Theodore  Wille  & Co.,  172. 
Theophilo  Ottoni,  61;  town,  149. 
Thevet,  Andre,  245. 

Thome  de  Souza,  34,  43. 

Tibagy,  29. 

Tibirifa,  18,  23,  136,  162. 

Tiete  river,  124. 

Tijuca,  4. 

Tiradentes,  50. 

Tobacco,  245-248;  export,  246;  price, 
247. 

Tocantins,  155,  162. 

Toledo,  Pedro  de,  230. 

Tombu,  29,  30. 

Trade,  ten-year  periods,  317;  bal- 
ance, 323. 

Transportation,  123-166. 

Travellers  in  Brazil,  3. 

Treasury  Bills,  279,  280. 

Treaty  of  Tordesillas,  12. 

Tres  Barras  lumber  mills,  138. 

Tres  Forquilhas,  57. 

Triangle  of  Minas,  128,  218,  273. 
Tropeiro,  86,  87. 

Tupan,  hi. 

Tupi-Guarani  tribes,  109. 

U 

Uberaba,  141,  218. 

United  States  Immigrants,  63,  64. 
United  States  interests,  294-297. 

U.  S.  purchases  from  Brazil,  320. 

U.  S.  Steel  Corporation,  261. 

Uricury  nuts,  201. 


Urubupunga  falls,  273. 

Urucu  dye,  272. 

Uruguay  link  with  Brazil,  135. 

V 

Valorization  of  Coffee,  171-174. 
Vergueiro  family,  61. 

Vespucci,  13,  14. 

Viafao  Bahiana,  158. 

Vifosa,  15 1. 

Victoria,  147,  148. 

Villa  Americana,  63. 

Villa  Rica,  46. 

Villegaignon,  43. 

W 

Wars,  1 19. 

Waterfalls,  power  used  or  available, 
265,  273. 

Weaving  industry,  268-271. 

Wheat  production,  249. 

Wickham,  180,  188,  189. 

Wileman,  121;  Review,  9. 

Willekens,  Admiral,  38. 

Willis,  Dr.  John,  229. 

Wilson  Coal  Co.,  165,  290,  322. 
Wine,  national,  88,  89,  274. 

Women,  position  and  education  of, 
94.  97- 

Writers,  98-100. 

X 

Xarque,  209. 

Y 

Ypiranga,  52,  268. 

z 

Ze  Povo,  84. 

Zebu  cattle,  217. 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


